E=mc2: A Biography of the Worlds
Most Famous Equation by David
Bodanis
Great For Liberal Arts Majors
E=mc2. Just about everyone has at least heard of Albert Einsteins
formulation of 1905, which came into the world as something of an
afterthought. But far fewer can explain his insightful linkage of energy to
mass. David Bodanis offers an easily grasped gloss on the equation.
Mass, he writes, is simply the ultimate type of condensed or concentrated
energy, whereas energy is what billows out as an alternate form of mass
under the right circumstances. Just what those circumstances are
occupies much of Bodaniss book, which pays homage to Einstein and,
just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and
Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writer ly
energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics
and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of
mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the
energy side of the equation, replacing the dominion of matter with a great
stillness--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.
Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other
circumstances as well; namely, Einsteins background and character,
which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic
view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --
Gregory McNamee
As a liberal arts major, I have always appreciated when science can be
brought to terms understandable by the likes of me. This book scores
extremely well as such an effort.
Mr. Bodanis explains the famous equation in terms easy to understand
without being insulting. He tracks the history of each of its components,
E,m,c and the square. He then traces the applications of the equation, the
most famous of which, of course, is the A-bomb. He relates the race
between the Germans and Americans, then the drop and then goes on to
explain other applications of the equation, including in space and the sun.
There is a bit of editorilizing like his interpretation of the history of dropping
the bomb and his obvious distaste for power plants, but these brief
interludes do not detract from the entirety.
This is an interesting and well-written informative "biography".
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