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

Dec 11, 2007 Darin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, my-top-20

It may not seem strange that I include a history book in my top 20...until you consider that the history book is not about a person--or a civilization--or an era. It is about an equation. E=mc2.

There are lots of biographies of Einstein, and I think the best may have just been published(I am currently reading "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson.)

But rather than write about the professor, Bodanis discusses each of the five elements of the equation. He also talks about the people...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Jamie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not quite sure why I keep going back to these history of science books, but I enjoy them. E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation is pretty much what it says. But if you're looking for just another Albert Einstein biography, author David Bodanis is mostly going to disappoint you here. It's more like a biography of the eponymous equation, examining each term (heck, even the equal sign) in great detail and giving a thorough accounts of the history of each piece and the impact it...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Vinc rated it 4 of 5 stars

For the ones, who look under the surface

I always hated to learn and calculate the formulas for physics and mathematics in school. So why would I deal with it in my free time?

This is a book about the world’s most famous equation that nearly everyone can recite, but almost no one can explain it correctly and comprehensibly. David Bodanis explains us much more than the origins and consequences of Einstein’s discovery that mass and energy are interchangeable, and that energy equals mass times the sp...more For the ones, who look under the surface

I always hated to learn and calculate the formulas for physics and mathematics in school. So why would I deal with it in my free time?

This is a book about the world’s most famous equation that nearly everyone can recite, but almost no one can explain it correctly and comprehensibly. David Bodanis explains us much more than the origins and consequences of Einstein’s discovery that mass and energy are interchangeable, and that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. In fact, the author introduces the reader to the assortment of characters who contributed to the understanding of the equation’s single parts. Therewith Bodanis doesn’t only credit the contributions of forgotten scientist, he rather makes the previously confusing math to a descriptive and easy to handle tool, since we know its history from early on.

To get the feeling where the equation’s origins are and why Einstein did what he did helped me a lot to understand e=mc^2. Throughout the book i acquired a taste for this method of step by step history. In this way, every single part is associated with its role. Indeed, understanding each piece makes it easier to understand the entirety.

Nevertheless, I have to express criticism on this part, too. Unfortunately, the author enlarges upon the contributors too much, what creates the feeling of drifting away from Einstein’s equation and rather points to another topic. As a reader I wish Bodanis would have made more associations with the equation, which would have led to a clear and straight outline of the book. The drifting from the topic harms the reading flow and gave me a feeling of swaying; not really knowing where I am going and how to file the information.

The step by step explanation continues to take its course throughout the book. As the author begins to deal with the more tragically part of the book, the construction of a nuclear bomb, I really appreciated the granularity. Whereby Bodanis confuses in the first part of the book, the details are necessary and make the the topic “nuclear disaster” vivid. I really appreciate the fact that nothing is belittled and the truth of this cruelty is depicted. For this reason I realized for the first time, that e=mc^2 doesn’t only heat up my mac & cheese in the microwave, but it killed millions of people by the use in a nuclear bomb. I have to give the author a lot of credit for the six page long description of what happened in the seconds after the bomb was triggered over Japan: there, Bodanis slows down time, as a chemical chain reaction altered our world forever. This is my favorite part because of the clear description of the reaction; not only on chemistry level, but on a level of humanity, ethnicity and the meaning of life.

Unfortunately, the ending comes too early after the detonation and the book is chopped by two pages. Here, the book could use a clear conclusion, which fades the reading flow away more harmonically.

All things considered, this book is a very good pick for readers of every level of knowledge on the equation, who want to grasp the meaning of the equation beyond the characters of “e=mc^2”.(less)

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Mar 04, 2012 Remo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: divulgacion-cientifica, 2007

Había oído hablar bastantes veces de este libro, y finalmente lo encontré barato. Y no saben cuánto me alegro. David Bodanis [DB] justifica en el prólogo el porqué de un libro como éste: En una reunión de amigos, todos ellos “de letras”, surgió el tema de conversación de E=mc2, y DB, curioso, preguntó si todos conocían esta ecuación. ¡Por supuesto que sí! ¡Es una ecuación famosísima de Einstein! ¿Y sabéis qué significa? Ah, ni idea. DB utilizó esta excusa para profundizar en todo lo relacionado

...more

Había oído hablar bastantes veces de este libro, y finalmente lo encontré barato. Y no saben cuánto me alegro. David Bodanis [DB] justifica en el prólogo el porqué de un libro como éste: En una reunión de amigos, todos ellos “de letras”, surgió el tema de conversación de E=mc2, y DB, curioso, preguntó si todos conocían esta ecuación. ¡Por supuesto que sí! ¡Es una ecuación famosísima de Einstein! ¿Y sabéis qué significa? Ah, ni idea. DB utilizó esta excusa para profundizar en todo lo relacionado con esta ecuación, y le salió este estupendo libro.

El libro no comienza con Einstein, que tarda un rato en aparecer. Comienza estudiando qué es la energía y cómo llegó el ser humano a comprender este concepto, nos habla de la velocidad de la luz, del origen del signo “=” y de por qué debe ser un cuadrado y no un cubo.

Pasamos en estos primeros capítulos por las biografías de multitud de científicos y personajes importantes en el desarrollo de la Ciencia. Entre ellos está Voltaire, quien fue amante de Emilie du Châtelet, una señora con una mente prodigiosa que ayudó no sólo a propagar las ideas de Newton traduciéndolo al francés, sino que fue determinante en el establecimiento del concepto de “energía”, entre otras cosas.

Luego aparece Einstein en escena, su trabajo como inspector de tercera en la oficina de patentes de Berna y su gran hallazgo, seguido diez años después por un hallazgo aún mayor, la Relatividad General, que incluye a la especial. Tras conocer a Einstein, su vida privada, sus éxitos y sus fracasos, la ecuación adquiere vida propia y nos vamos a la II Guerra Mundial a ver cómo alemanes y Aliados lucharon por obtener energía a partir de los materiales radiactivos. Aprendemos que los americanos tuvieron antes la bomba en parte gracias a las acciones de sabotaje que sufrieron los alemanes en sus fábricas de agua pesada.

Finalmente salimos de nuestro planeta y viajamos por el Universo, y aprendemos que gracias a la transformación de masa en energía existe la Tierra tal y como la conocemos, con sus elementos más pesados que el hierro, que sólo pudieron formarse en el núcleo a millones de grados de las estrellas viejas.

El libro repasa las vidas de decenas de científicos de primera fila, nos llena de datos interesantísimos, nos muestra cómo hay tantas cosas interdependientes que en realidad el avance de la ciencia es siempre un esfuerzo conjunto, en definitiva, nos da una visión a vista de pájaro del funcionamiento del mundo a base de pequeños vuelos sobre todo lo relacionado con una única ecuación.

El libro incluye un apéndice fantástico: “¿Qué fue de…”? Como en algunas películas, que al acabar nos muestran a los protagonistas unos años después: “Johhn MCCullough siguió en el negocio del caucho. Compró un concesionario en Idaho y vive felizmente casado criando avestruces y caracoles”. Pues lo mismo. ¿Qué fue de James Chadwick, que descubrió el neutrón en 1932, abriendo la puerta al conocimiento del átomo? Pues se fue a vivir a Inglaterra, y se convirtió en administrador del proyecto Manhattan junto a Oppenheimer. Tras el bombardeo de Hiroshima y Nagasaki no pudo volver a dormir sin la ayuda de píldoras en los 28 años de vida que siguieron. Emilio Segrè, colaborador de Fermi, descubrió el Tecnecio. En la tumba de su madre esparció un poco de polvo de este material. “Es muy poco radiactivo y su vida media es de miles de años. Pensándolo bien, no puedo traerle nada a mi madre que vaya a ser más perdurable que esto”. Y así decenas y decenas, estimados lectores.

Por si fuera poco, el libro incluye un montón de notas al final, que no sólo indican la fuente bibliográfica de donde se cita, sino que incluyen un montón de historias que no se encuentran en el texto principal. Aprendemos en las notas, entre otras muchas cosas, sobre los barcos alemanes que llegaron a la Luna, una historia increíble.

Ya en un tono más desenfadado, al ver la contraportada me sorprendí. ¡Ostrás, Joaquín Cortés ha escrito un libro de física! Luego resultó que no, que sólo se parecen un poco

DB menciona en el libro una viñeta cómica en la que Einstein aparece delante de una pizarra cavilando. En la pizarra puede verse

E=mc1

E=mc2

E=mc3

Buscando por curiosidad ese chiste no lo encontré (se agradecerá ayuda), pero encontré otro que se le parece mucho:

La gracia del chiste no le hace justicia, sin embargo, a Einstein, quien no llegó por prueba y error a la fórmula famosa, sino tras una deducción matemática basada en la conservación del momento relativista que había propuesto en su artículo de 1905.

Ahora el escritorio tiene mucha mejor pinta. Ha quedado todo bien “cuadrado”.

Sí señor, todo ha quedado bien cuadraaaaaaaado

Para obtener la ecuación E=mc2, se parte del supuesto de un cuerpo que emite dos fotones de la misma energía, uno hacia delante y otro hacia atrás. Al tener los dos fotones el mismo momento lineal (m·v, o más bien hν/c en el caso de un fotón), el cuerpo deberá seguir moviéndose a la misma velocidad que antes. Sin embargo, ha emitido energía, por lo que la energía total del cuerpo debe haber disminuido un poco. Estudiando exactamente cuánto ha disminuido esa energía se llega a la fórmula. Los curiosos avezados en física pueden ver aquí una reconstrucción breve del razonamiento de Einstein: De dónde surge E=mc2

Mi nota para este libro: Muy bueno y muy completo.

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May 20, 2011 Care rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

Quick Version:

This book is a well laid out explanation of each part of the equation, its history, and its role in our universe.

Long Version:

The genesis of David Bodanis’ book was an interview he read in which actress Cameron Diaz expressed the desire-serious or in jest-to know what E=mc² really meant. Bodanis realized that the truth is that very few people have even a rudimentary knowledge of the usefulness of the world’s most famous equation; this book is his attempt to rectify that.

The format...more Quick Version:

This book is a well laid out explanation of each part of the equation, its history, and its role in our universe.

Long Version:

The genesis of David Bodanis’ book was an interview he read in which actress Cameron Diaz expressed the desire-serious or in jest-to know what E=mc² really meant. Bodanis realized that the truth is that very few people have even a rudimentary knowledge of the usefulness of the world’s most famous equation; this book is his attempt to rectify that.

The format chosen is an interesting one. Those who are true novices to physics-or lack interest in pursuing the equation beyond the basics-can read the front half of the book and walk away far more knowledgeable than they were when they picked it up. After a brief introduction to the time and place in which Einstein generated the paper which introduce the theory to the scientific world, Bodanis goes on to break down the equation and discuss each of its parts separately. What do they mean, and how do they interact with each other? The reader is then led on a quick trip through history with regards to how the scientific community used the theory-the race to be the first to build “The Bomb” during World War II. Finally, the author discusses the theory in our universe. Those not interested in a brain drain of a read would still likely read the Epilogue, which discusses what else Einstein did, and the interesting appendix, which gives closure regarding the other key participants.

Of particular interest with regards to the structure of the book are the notes. If you would like to know more details (and are not afraid of either the odd equation or in depth descriptions), Bodanis suggests that you read the notes, where he has taken things a bit further. It is here that I have a bone to pick. The format that was chosen was that of endnotes, as opposed to footnotes. When endnotes are used, there is absolutely no indication within the text that there is a back of the book furtherance of the topic-two members of our book club did not even realize they were there and thus missed the opportunity to add to their reading experience. For those readers that do choose to read the endnotes concurrent with the front half of the book, you are left constantly flipping between the text and the notes to see if you have reached the next note (they are listed by page number). This is extremely disruptive to the flow of a book which requires some level of concentration to read and annoyed me to no end. Footnotes within the text would have been grand. As a side note, a member of our group tried to read the e-reader version. Footnotes would have enabled her to flip from text to notes with ease. As it was, she quickly gave up on trying to maneuver between the two.

The final section, a guide to further reading, is one of the finest source guides I have ever seen. Books are divided into categories and are each given a paragraph of explanation designed to help the reader ascertain if they are a good fit for their reading list.

Bodanis tops off his two leveled read with one final feat-he has a website to which he directs the serious student for further, more in depth, study. Whether you are interested in a basic explanation of a complicated theory, have a fascination with physics and would like to know more, or would like to go beyond your high school physics knowledge, this book is likely to fit your need.(less)

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Jul 26, 2010 TeacherMrLoria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not too long ago I was under the false impression that I hated science. I was one of thoooose kids in school, the “science sucks, it’s too static, too hard, takes away life’s mysteries, etc,” but really that was just me keeping my head in the sand and not being educated. I’ve taken it on myself to read as much about science as I can to fill gaps in my knowledge. The more I study science, the more I am convinced that it adds to the poetry of life by providing another perspective in this great mys...more Not too long ago I was under the false impression that I hated science. I was one of thoooose kids in school, the “science sucks, it’s too static, too hard, takes away life’s mysteries, etc,” but really that was just me keeping my head in the sand and not being educated. I’ve taken it on myself to read as much about science as I can to fill gaps in my knowledge. The more I study science, the more I am convinced that it adds to the poetry of life by providing another perspective in this great mystery.
E=mc2 sets out with a very simple message – explain Einstein’s famous theory to the average reader. In manages to do this in a way that is informative and not too static. The key is the author treats the equation as a biography, so he talks about our how the understanding of energy has changed over time, there’s even a chapter about what the = is.
It also picks up the equation where Einstein left off, and discusses the implications of e=mc2 during WWII. This was perhaps the most fascinating part of the book. We were very much behind the Germans as the war began in terms of making a nuclear weapon (nuclear weapons are possible because converting even a tiny particle of matter into energy results in a huuuuuuuuge release of energy because that particle is multiplied by the speed of light squared – simply incredible!). Anyway, so we’re way behind the Germans, but we know the weak part of their chain making the nuke was their supply of “heavy water.” Heavy water refers to ionized water, and making this stuff wasn’t easy in the 1940s. The Allies knew the location the Nazis used to make heavy water, so we attacked it with a group of 30 top British fighters (basically their NAVY seals). They all were captured and killed. After that, a group of 8 Norwegians said “we’ll try.” These guys snuck up on cross country skies, shimmied in, and blew up the factory, then got away. Remarkable, and one of the many close calls that delayed the Nazis from building the bomb.
One note of caution - If you’re reading this book, please be aware that the book ends about 3/5 of the way in and the last section are extensive notes on the book. I think the editor must have thought it was a bit too scientific, so they removed a lot of the longer explanations and put them in the end. I was pissed because I didn’t realize that until I finished, the notes are excellent. Refer to them frequently.
Overall, great book. It helps explain the mysterious connection between matter and energy, something that still baffles me to this day, illuminated some of the rather complicated implications of the theories of general and special relativity, talked about Einstein, WWII and other pretty sweet stuff. Very good stuff.
Quotes:
“With Laviosier’s work, the conservation of mass was on its way to being established. He played a central role in helping to show that there was a vast, interconnected world of physical objects around us. The substances that fill our universe can be burned, squeezed, shredded, or hammered to bits, but they won’t disappear. The different sorts floating around just combine or recombine. The total amount of mass, however, remains the same.” 35 How cool is that?
Talking about the speed of light “670,000,000 mph. In fact the exact speed of light is a fraction higher, but for convenience we’ll round it off to 670 million for the rest of the book….This vast speed leads to many curious effects. Let someone irritatingly speak into a cell phone just a few tables away from you in a restaurant, and it seems as if you’re hearing his voice almost as soon as the words leave his mouth. But air only can carry a sound wave at the lowly speed of Mach I, whereas radio signals shooting upwards from the cell phone travel as fast as light. The person on the receiving end of the phone – even if she’s hundreds of miles away – will hear the words before they’ve trundled the few yards through the air of the restaurant to reach you.” 44
“Mass is simply the ultimate type of condensed or concentrated energy. Energy is the reverse: it is what billows out as an alternate form of mass under the right circumstances.” 69
About young people being more inventive and creative than old folk, the author makes the case that Einstein discovered his theories when he was young, and that being young allows you to take certain risks and think in a different way from the old folk: “He really was, as Newton described himself when similarly in his mid-twenties, ‘in the prime of my age for invention.’ In each area, Einstein pushed beyond what was known; he unified fields that had remained separate, questioning assumptions that everyone until then had simply accepted.” 85
“Yet the desire to see the deepest underpinnings was still there, as was the trust that you would find something magnificent waiting if you made it that far. There was a waiting ‘slot’: things could be clarified, and in a comprehensible, rational way. At one time the slot had been filled in by religion. It could easily enough be extended now to science. Einstein had great confidence that the answers were waiting to be found.” 87
“Nobody could be confident that the United States was going to win the race to make the bomb...When Heinsenberg began his research for army ordnance, the Werhrmacht was the world’s most powerful fighting force...The United States had an army that, if you included a lot of generation old World War I artifacts, could supply two divisions, thus placing it below the tenth rank in the world, at about the level of Belgium.” 133
“Whom do you kill for the greater good? Because of the equation – these powers E=mc2 was offering – the physicists were demanding an awful moral trade off, greater than anyone should be required to make.” 154
* "Fast forward several billion years, and mobile chunks of carbon atoms emerged (in other words, us!) to wade through low-flying clouds of star-created oxygen, stir caffeine-dense liquids of Big Bang hydrogen atoms, and read about how they came to exist. For we live on a planet where e=mc2 is constantly at work in the technology around us.” 191
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Apr 17, 2010 Dennis Littrell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: physics

Bodanis, David. E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation (2000)
Vivid, readable and compelling

This is science history framed as a biography about Albert Einstein's famous equation, and an especially good read. Bodanis begins with Einstein in the Bern Patent Office in 1905, and then goes back in time to examine each of the elements in Einstein's equation in turn, starting with energy, followed by the equals sign, then mass, and then the speed of light (where I learned that the "c" i...more Bodanis, David. E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation (2000)
Vivid, readable and compelling

This is science history framed as a biography about Albert Einstein's famous equation, and an especially good read. Bodanis begins with Einstein in the Bern Patent Office in 1905, and then goes back in time to examine each of the elements in Einstein's equation in turn, starting with energy, followed by the equals sign, then mass, and then the speed of light (where I learned that the "c" is for "celeritas," from the Latin for "swiftness" and not for centimeters--silly me, I always thought "c" represented the speed of light in centimeters!) and finally, squared.

There are a number of stories woven into the narrative beginning with the story of Michael Faraday, who demonstrated the link between electricity and magnetism, and his mentor Humphrey Davy who tried to steal the priority from him. Other stories include that of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier whose fanatical insistence on exacting measurements led the world to the realization of the conservation of energy, a man who received his thanks by being beheaded during the French Revolution. And there is that of Ole Roemer, who with the help of Jupiter's satellite Io, was able to calculate the speed of light (despite denials from an embarrassed Jean-Dominique Cassini, who believed that light propagated instantaneously). There is the tale of Emilie du Chatelet, beloved of Voltaire, who persuaded everyone that Leibniz was right, that energy equals mass times velocity squared, not simply mass times velocity as Newton had it. Bodanis recalls how she became with child at age forty and feared for her life because the "Doctors of the time had no awareness that they should wash their hands or instruments." She gave birth but died of an infection a week later.

The biography reaches its climax in the Manhattan Project. Bodanis gives a short but compelling story about how J. Robert Oppenheimer guided the US project to success, and a corresponding story about how the German effort under the direction of Werner Heisenberg failed. Along the way we get glimpses of other scientists involved in nuclear energy and radioactivity, including Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, James Chadwick, Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, Arthur Stanley Eddington and others. Fred Hoyle makes an appearance as does Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Bodanis paints some of the scientists in a most unflattering light, especially Hahn and Heisenberg, while glorifying others, notably Meitner, Chandra and Fermi. His sketch of Oppenheimer is balanced and vivid.

Bodanis has the gift of making everything interesting, especially the personalities, but also the science itself. His description of the atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities and how they worked makes for compelling reading. In the Chapter "America's Turn" I learned that not everybody in the Allied Command agreed with Truman's decision to use the bomb: "Even Eisenhower, who'd had no qualms about killing thousands of opponents when it was necessary to safeguard his troops, was strongly hostile to it..." (p. 161).

Some of the most interesting writing is in the footnotes, beginning on page 237. Here I found a most elegant digression on the Uncertainty Principle (pp. 273-74). And on page 280, Bodanis makes a vivid distinction between the naked properties of U238 (fifty pounds together are warm to the touch) and U235 (fifty pounds together leave a crater). And on page 275 he recalls the use of female slaves by the Germans during WWII: "...the I. G. Farben combine purchased 150 women from the Oswiecim [Auschwitz:] concentration camp, after complaining about a price of 200 marks (then $80.00) each, and killed all of them in experiments with a soporific drug."

A number of black and white prints complement and enhance the text; an appendix, "Follow-up of Other Key Participants" shines more light on the scientists; and there is a useful 18-page "Guide to Further Reading" following the notes This is an highly informative excursion into the history of science made truly delectable by a gifted writer.(less)

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Apr 17, 2010 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really fairly good. It had a discussion at the end as to whether or not Truman should have used the atom bomb; the argument was fairly convincing against such use, but I'm honestly not well-versed on the subject. I'd always heard that the use of the bomb was considered to be essential in order to end WWII and prevent huge losses of American lives. Still a fairly good book.

The PBS series by the same title which was aired a few years ago was also good, but sometimes rather silly. My girls and I w...more

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Dec 08, 2012 David Plunkett rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked "A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation" for my Goodreads project. I believe the Author's purpose in this novel was to present facts about the creation of Einstein's Equation, E=MC Squared, and the events leading to the making of the Atomic Bomb. The theme of this story was to give the reader information as to how Einstein's Famous Equation was created. This novel also presented knowledgeable facts as to why Einstein created this equation. The Author used the style of narration...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Aleisha Z Coleman rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-authors-of-all-time

I am having a hard time not being impressed with myself because this is the second book in the "hard" scientific realm that I have just adored (the first being "A Short History of Everything"). It had such an impressively daunting title that I couldn't have explained except that it has something to do with Einstein. However, I am confident that I could explain the basics of this equation after reading this book. In addition, it has motivated me to find out more of how this equation influenced hi...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a book of a different sort. I tend to lean more towards short stories and fantasy, but this author proved he could capture my attention with science. The main reason for his success was that this book is not about complicated math and physics only an honor student can comprehend. This book is about the stories of the people who contributed to Einstein's development of his theory. Bodanis takes each portion of the equation "E," "m," "c," "2," and even the "=" and he tells how someone in h...more

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Jan 21, 2009 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am usually a fiction reader, but this "biography" of the equation E=MC2 was wonderful and I completely recommend it!

Bodanis first breaks down the equation into each of its parts and talks about the history of energy, mass, etc. He re-creates the discoveries that slowly added up to Einstein's theory. The book was well written, but the actually history is actually fascinating as well. My favorite parts of the book are the fact that there were quite a few women profiled and the story of the Norwe...more

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Mar 22, 2009 Thomas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, science, military-history

It sounds like a book about physics, but it's really more about the lives of the scientists that revolved around this famous equation. Some of them -- Faraday, Lavoisier, Maxwell -- laid the foundations leading up to Einstein's pivotal theory. Some of them -- Oppenheimer, Chandrasekhar -- follow up on it. Bodanis acknowledges as well the accomplishments of women like Emilie du Chatelet, Lise Meitner and Cecilia Payne, all of whom faced additional challenges because they were women doing serious,...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Niradhip rated it 4 of 5 stars

The equation (E=mc2) is always fascinating to many of us. We often talk about this equation without understanding the significance of it. The book really helps us to understand the inner connotation of one of the most imperative equation of mankind. David Bodanis drafted the pre-existent thought, birth, early stage, complete development and post effect of the equation wonderfully. The equation played a pivotal role during Second World War and it’s well documented inside. The vivid imagination an...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Angelika rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very engaging and hard to put down ride through the history of science, highlighting the people and their stories behind the names one might have heard of ...or - in the case of female scientists- had not. It is a great introduction to concepts and people around the formula. If you take it as that and not as an attempt to teach you the details relativity theory then it is a great read. The complexity of the subject matter cannot be covered in such a short book, but it serves as a great study g...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Anastasia Hobbet rated it 4 of 5 stars

A brilliant idea to write a biography of the equation. Bodanis' writing skills aren't brilliant, but they don't render the book unreadable, just awkward from time to time, verging on Clank! here and there. My favorite part is the beginning, where he tells the history of the terms of the equation. How did 'c' come to stand for the speed of light, and what's the story of its derivation? Fascinating stuff. He also traces the history of the equation from its publication in 1905 through the developme...more

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May 01, 2012 Wayne Palmer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book provides a wonderful biographical understanding of the circumstances and people surrounding each of the individual components that make up this equation, including the "=" which I found most fascinating. It also goes on to then expelain teh story of teh equation itself. While you would think that this concept would be rather dry and unexciting, David Bodanis using teh rich tapestry (sorry couldn't help myself) of people's lives to tell the story. Thus it is more about people than a phy...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: academic, biography, history, quantum, science

This is the book you have always wanted to read. It explains in terms we can all understand why and how Einstein changed the understanding of the universe when he conjectured that E=MC2...we need to know this so that we can understand why The Big Bang Theory is a cultural phenom and why when for a moment Cern suggested that a particle might travel faster than the speed of light the whole world freaked out. Bodanis is a great communicator, a great story teller and the kind of thinker you wanted i...more

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May 08, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

E=mc2. Just about everyone has at least heard of Albert Einstein's 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...more

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Apr 11, 2013 thegift rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, nonfiction, uslit, war, philosophycrit

unique take on the memorable equation. do not know why some of the various stories seemed familiar, but then i do read a bit, i am interested in science, in cosmology, even if it is not like my math is good enough. easy read by focusing on biographical elements of each part of the equation, including some names i had heard before- du chatelet, voltaire, maxwell, hoyle etc- and some new, women mostly, who had been written out of scientific history. long sections to the end, future reading, notes,...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book is definitely for non-physicists and it takes a new approach to describing the equation, the Theory of Relativity (General and Special), and how the equation is applied. The first section takes each of the components of the equation and gives a brief history, often by way of a scientist who worked on that particular component. The next sections follow the "life" of the equation from its early days through current applications - from discussions of space-time to the atomic bomb to black...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Liu Zhen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 11th

Title: E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
Author: David Bodanis
Pages: 337
Publisher: 0425181642 (ISBN13: 9780425181645)
E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation is by far, one of my favourite biography book. I have never read such an entertaining book where I felt such a passion towards science. I have always hated science in the past two years in high school. But this book really opens my eyes to the beauty of this simple equation with splendid stories and histo...more Title: E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
Author: David Bodanis
Pages: 337
Publisher: 0425181642 (ISBN13: 9780425181645)
E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation is by far, one of my favourite biography book. I have never read such an entertaining book where I felt such a passion towards science. I have always hated science in the past two years in high school. But this book really opens my eyes to the beauty of this simple equation with splendid stories and history contexts.
This book is very interesting because the author, David Bodanis takes a very unique approach in explaining the meaning of this equation, E=mc2. “Instead of using the rocket ship-and-flashlight approach, I could write the biography of E=mc2. Everyone knows that a biography entrails stories of the ancestors, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of your subject. It's the same with the equation.” Says Bodanis in his preface. Each letter of the equation E=mc2 represents something, such as "E" is the energy equal to the "M", mass in earth, with different historical stories. The twists and turns were created in the development of this equation, making this book not only unique, but surprising entertaining.
Reading this book not only taught me the beauty of a simple equation, but also brought me to a estate where I get to know the most well-known scientist of all time, Albert Einstein. Einstein was not only obnoxious in school, but he was also unable to take care of his wife and child when he was in his late twenties. This rises my curiosity on how a troubled scientist discovered the most famous equation of all time?
After all, I must emphasize that I enjoyed reading this book, it was a joy. It makes me fall in love with the beauty of a simple equation. It is something magical, as if a mother watched her child grow. This book makes me like physics, something that I want to dig deeper into in the future. I would like to recommend this book to anyone!
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Aug 23, 2010 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, science-technology

I'd give this a 3.5. I found the beginning to be a little slow, but once the book moved more into people's lives and the rush for the A-bomb things really picked up. One thing to note is the enthusiasm of the author. I never expected to see so many exclamation points in a book about science, but maybe that's just because I lack imagination. While at times Bodanis seems to lay it on a little thick, there are parts of the book in which I genuinely shared his enthusiasm. Learning about the practica...more

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Oct 03, 2008 Marcie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just sat at Dean & Deluca reading this through. It was a book I had stolen from a guest (not very nice, I know, but I had to read it once I saw the title. I'm working on a new art piece based partly on physics.) It is a really interesting book on the history of the science behind the equation and then how it has been used since. It's partly a little lesson in physics for us non-scientist types. (I do seem to know a lot of physicists so it's useful information for parties.) And a little hea...more

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Sep 06, 2007 Emily Ann Meyer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, science, biography, 2007

This was an increadibly engaging, abosorbing, and fully readable book for so esoteric a subject.

The author broke down each element of the equation devoting a chapter to E (and how scientists found that energy is energy, is energy regardless of the form it takes - and also the wave rather than linear concept thereof) a chapter to = (yes the equals sign), a chapter to m basically getting into the laws of conservation of matter, a chapter to c (the constant of the speed of light - put it in terms...more This was an increadibly engaging, abosorbing, and fully readable book for so esoteric a subject.

The author broke down each element of the equation devoting a chapter to E (and how scientists found that energy is energy, is energy regardless of the form it takes - and also the wave rather than linear concept thereof) a chapter to = (yes the equals sign), a chapter to m basically getting into the laws of conservation of matter, a chapter to c (the constant of the speed of light - put it in terms that were easily understood) and then a chapter to ^2 which really fascinated me inasmuch as it got into the whys and wherefors of the earlier equation of f=mv^2, and how it was Voltaire's lover that found that the ^2 mattered when Newton had created f=mv . . . and it was a really simple study that revealed it. (Dropping balls into clay and measuring how far they sank).

The book then went on to describe the reception of Einstein's paper in which he proposed the theory of relativity, and then got into the most chilling and practical application thereof - in 1939 - 34 years after he originally wrote it -- with atomic weapons. I found it interesting, I learned a lot more than the cursory "the Americans and the Germans were in a race to harness the power of nuclear fission and weaponize it and the Americans won working through something called the Manhattan project" -- it got into some of the personalities behind that and some of the Allied sabotage of the German efforts without which the Americans probably would not have won.

There was a great appendix which gave postscripts on most of the people introduced in the book and a thorough reading list at the end. Really, a very enjoyable book for a subject that has the potential to be incredibly dense.

I've seen a review say there were factual errors, and that I can't address - but it's not written to be a text book. It's written for the lay reader. Were I to want to learn more, there's a giant list of suggested reading at the end. Some of which I'm probably going to hit. But for an overview, it was WONDERFUL.(less)

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May 21, 2007 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Imaginative types

Shelves: nonfiction

This book made me fall in love with physics all over again. Much like spinning together a crazy plot or fairy tale, scientists must think "out-of-the-box" in order to take a theory to the next level. You kind of feel lighter than air as you read about their thought process.

I loved picturing Einstein at his home with his newborn son on his knee, plotting how light affects the conversion from mass to energy. There is something fantastic about equations--the way all the pieces fit together is quit...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Byron Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great read. Didn't get technical about the theory but gave a complete history of how the theory came about. Very easy read considering the subject matter. The author did a great job of explaining everything from the concept of energy to the history of the equal sign to the study of matter and finally the speed of light and how Einstein new to square it. If you have ever watched the PBS show "Einstein's Big Idea" this is a more indepth look into that story.

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Jan 21, 2012 Paul Clarkson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

An easy to understand guide to Einstein's famous equation. Starting with Einstein, and his discovery, the book goes onto explain the history of the terms of the equation, looking how the ideas and terms have developed over the centuries.[return][return]Bodanis then examines the development of the atomic bomb and how E=mc2 is at the heart of the process. [return][return]An excellent well written book. Certainly worth a read.

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Jul 12, 2009 Michael Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good short history of the equation, breaking down each of its component parts and illuminating its meaning and function; illustrating Einstein's life in brief, especially as regards the development of special and general relativity; and documenting the development of theoretical physics after the in the wake of the equation's publication. Easy to read, conversational and fun (if you like that sort of thing).

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Mar 31, 2013 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, physics, history

Starting with each of the letters and symbols in the famous equation, the author tracks down the origin of each. Having explained those, he then charts the path of the individuals and breakthroughs that led to the the first atomic bombs. While that latter part is a little hard to read, knowing the tragedy and death that will follow the development of the bomb, overall this is an enjoyable and informative read. It provided the clearest explanation of the atomic chain reaction that creates the mus...more

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