ADAMS VS. LE VERRIER (full-length play) by
Based on the true story of one of the most celebrated — and controversial — scientific achievements of the 19th century, the discovery of Neptune. This is a story full of intrigue, deceit, incompetence, and that’s just on the English side of the channel. It’s also a story with a naturally strong dramatic arc. When astronomers had trouble calculating an orbit for the newly-discovered planet Uranus, many surmised...
Based on the true story of one of the most celebrated — and controversial — scientific achievements of the 19th century, the discovery of Neptune. This is a story full of intrigue, deceit, incompetence, and that’s just on the English side of the channel. It’s also a story with a naturally strong dramatic arc. When astronomers had trouble calculating an orbit for the newly-discovered planet Uranus, many surmised that another, unseen, planet was influencing its orbit. It turned into a race between two mathematicians, each trying to plot the position of that unseen planet, something which had never been attempted. One of them was John Couch Adams, an unheralded and exceedingly shy English college student. The other was Urbain Le verrier, an egotistical, self-promoting French academic. Adams calculated the position first, only to have his work ignored by the British scientific establishment. Le Verrier, by contrast, carried on a public relations campaign to advertise his findings, but the French ignored his conclusion, as well. When Neptune finally was found, its discovery stirred nationalistic passions on both sides, and sparked another debate on what to call the new planet. Cast: Four. To be historically accurate, all four would be male but this can be done by any gender.