E = Mc2 : A Biography Of The World's Most Famous Equation - 00 edition

Bodanis, David : University of Oxford

David Bodanis taught for many years a survey of intellectual history at the University of Oxford. He is the author of several books, including The Secret Family and the bestseller The Secret Home.

"This is not a physics book. It is a history of where the equation [E=mc2] came from and how it has changed the world. After a short chapter on the equation's birth, Bodanis presents its five symbolic ancestors in sequence, each with its own chapter and each with rich human stories of achievement and failure, encouragement and duplicity, love and rivalry, politics and revenge. Readers meet not only famous scientists at their best and worst but also such famous and infamous characters as Voltaire and Marat...Bodanis includes detailed, lively and fascinating back matter...His acknowledgements end, 'I loved writing this book.' It shows."

--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"E=mc2, focusing on the 1905 theory of special relativity, is just what its subtitle says it is: a biography of the world's most famous equation, and it succeeds beautifully. For the first time, I really feel that I understand the meaning and implications of that equation, as Bodanis takes us through each symbol separately, including the = sign...there is a great 'aha!' awaiting the lay reader."

--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"'The equation that changed everything' is familiar to even the most physics-challenged, but it remains a fuzzy abstraction to most. Science writer Bodanis makes it a lot more clear."

--Discover

"Excellent...With wit and style, he explains every factor in the world's most famous and least understood equation....Every page is rich with surprising anecdotes about everything from Einstein's youth to the behind-the-scenes workings of the Roosevelt administration. Here's a prediction: E=mc2 is one of those odd, original, and handsomely written books that will prove more popular than even its publisher suspects."

--Nashville Scene

"You'll learn more in these 300 pages about folks like Faraday, Lavoisier, Davy and Rutherford than you will in many a science course...a clearly written, astonishingly understandable book that celebrates human achievement and provides some idea of the underlying scientific orderliness and logic that guides the stars and rules the universe."

--Parade

"Bodanis truly has a gift for bringing his subject matter to life."

--Library Journal [starred review]

"Entertaining...With anecdotes and illustrations, Bodanis effectively opens up E=mc2 to the widest audience."

--Booklist

"Accessible...he seeks, and deserves, many readers who know no physics. They'll learn a handful-more important, they'll enjoy it, and pick up a load of biographical and cultural curios along the way."

--Publishers Weekly

Penguin Putnam Inc. Web Site, May, 2002

Preface


Part 1: Birth
1. Bern Patent Office, 1905

Part 2: Ancestors of E=mc²
2. E is for Energy
3. =
4. m Is for mass
5. c Is for celeritas
6. ²

Part 3: The Early Years
7. Einstein and the Equation
8. Into the Atom
9. Quiet in the Midday Snow

Part 4: Adulthood
10. Germany's Turn
11. Norway
12. America's Turn
13. 8:16 AM - Over Japan

Part 5: Til the End of Time
14. The Fires of the Sun
15. Creating the Earth
16. A Brahmin Lifts His Eyes Unto the Sky

Epilogue: What Else Einstein Did
Appendix: Follow-Up of Other Key Participants
Notes
Guide to Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index