E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation

by David Bodanis

Publisher:

Bloomsbury USA

, 2009

Overview

Generations have grown up knowing that the equation E=mc2 changed the shape of our world, but never understanding what it actually means, why it was so significant, and how it informs our daily lives today--governing, as it does, everything from the atomic bomb to a television’s cathode ray tube to the carbon dating of prehistoric paintings. In this book, David Bodanis writes the “biography” of one of the greatest scientific discoveries in history--that the realms of energy and matter are inescapably linked--and, through his skill as a writer and teacher, he turns a seemingly impenetrable theory into a dramatic human achievement and an uncommonly good story.

Product Details

• Title: E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
• Author: David Bodanis
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9780802718211, 9780802714633, 0802714633, 0802718213
• Resource ID: LLS:9780802718211
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T15:23:01Z

About David Bodanis

David Bodanis studied mathematics, physics, and history at the University of Chicago, and for many years taught the "Intellectual Tool-Kit" course at Oxford University. The author of many books—including the New York Times bestseller The Secret House and E=mc2, which was adapted into the PBS NOVA documentary Einstein’s Big Idea—he is also a futurist and business advisor who has worked for the Royal Dutch Shell Scenario Prediction unit, modelling economic futures, as well as for the future planning unit at the World Economic Forum. He has been a popular speaker at TED conferences and at Davos, and most recently helped run an international study for the UK Treasury on the future of high-frequency trading. Bodanis’s work has been published in the Financial Times, the Guardian, and the New York Times. He lives in London.