{"product_id":"emc2-isbn-9780425181645","title":"E=mc2","description":"Already climbing the bestseller lists-and garnering rave reviews—this \"little masterpiece\" sheds brilliant light on the equation that changed the world.\u003cp\u003eBodanis begins by devoting chapters to each of the equation's letters and symbols, introducing the science and scientists forming the backdrop to Einstein's discovery—from Ole Roemer's revelation that the speed of light could be measured to Michael Faraday's pioneering work on energy fields. Having demystified the equation, Bodanis explains its science and brings it to life historically, making clear the astonishing array of discoveries and consequences it made possible. It would prove to be a beacon throughout the twentieth century, important to Ernest Rutherford, who discovered the structure of the atom, Enrico Fermi, who probed the nucleus, and Lise Meitner, who finally understood how atoms could be split wide open. And it has come to inform our daily lives, governing everything from the atomic bomb to a television's cathode-ray tube to the carbon dating of prehistoric paintings.\u003c\/p\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart 1: Birth\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Bern Patent Office, 1905\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart 2: Ancestors of E=mc²\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. E is for Energy\u003cbr\u003e3. =\u003cbr\u003e4. m Is for mass\u003cbr\u003e5. c Is for celeritas\u003cbr\u003e6. ²\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart 3: The Early Years\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7. Einstein and the Equation\u003cbr\u003e8. Into the Atom\u003cbr\u003e9. Quiet in the Midday Snow\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart 4: Adulthood\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e10. Germany's Turn\u003cbr\u003e11. Norway\u003cbr\u003e12. America's Turn\u003cbr\u003e13. 8:16 AM - Over Japan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart 5: Til the End of Time\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e14. The Fires of the Sun\u003cbr\u003e15. Creating the Earth\u003cbr\u003e16. A Brahmin Lifts His Eyes Unto the Sky\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue: What Else Einstein Did\u003cbr\u003eAppendix: Follow-Up of Other Key Participants\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eGuide to Further Reading\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIndex\"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.\" \u003cb\u003e—The Cleveland Plain Dealer\u003cb\u003e\"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.\" \u003cb\u003e—St. Louis Post-Dispatch\u003cb\u003e\"'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.\" \u003cb\u003e—Discover\u003cb\u003e\"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.\" \u003cb\u003e—Nashville Scene\u003cb\u003e\"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.\" \u003cb\u003e—Parade\u003cb\u003e\"Bodanis truly has a gift for bringing his subject matter to life.\" \u003cb\u003e—Library Journal [starred review]\u003cb\u003e\"Entertaining...With anecdotes and illustrations, Bodanis effectively opens up E=mc2 to the widest audience.\" \u003cb\u003e—Booklist\u003cb\u003e\"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.\" \u003cb\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eDavid Bodanis studied mathematics at the University of Chicago and in 1988 became a Senior Associate Member of St. Anthony's College in Oxford, England. From 1991-97, he lectured at the University of Oxford, designing the university's main survey of social science methods. Author of several books, he is an ideas consultant to corporations and organizations worldwide. A native of Chicago, he lives in London with his family.Part 1, Birth\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e13 April 1901\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProfessor Wilhelm Ostwald\u003cbr\u003eUniversity of Leipzig\u003cbr\u003eLeipzig, Germany\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEsteemed Herr Professor!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlease forgive a father who is so bold as to turn to you, esteemed Herr Professor, in the interest of his son.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI shall start by telling you that my son Albert is 22 years old, that . . . he feels profoundly unhappy with his present lack of position, and his idea that he has gone off the tracks with his career \u0026amp; is now out of touch gets more and more entrenched each day. In addition, he is oppressed by the thought that he is a burden on us, people of modest means. . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have taken the liberty of turning [to you] with the humble request to . . . write him, if possible, a few words of encouragement, so that he might recover his joy in living and working.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf, in addition, you could secure him an Assistant's position for now or the next autumn, my gratitude would know no bounds. . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am also taking the liberty of mentioning that my son does not know anything about my unusual step.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI remain, highly esteemed Herr Professor,\u003cbr\u003eyour devoted\u003cbr\u003eHermann Einstein\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo answer from Professor Ostwald was ever received.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe world of 1905 seems distant to us now, but there were many similarities to life today. European newspapers complained that there were too many American tourists, while Americans were complaining that there were too many immigrants. The older generation everywhere complained that the young were disrespectful, while politicians in Europe and America worried about the disturbing turbulence in Russia. There were newfangled \"aerobics\" classes; there was a trend-setting vegetarian society, and calls for sexual freedom (which were rebuffed by traditionalists standing for family values), and much else.\u003cbr\u003eThe year 1905 was also when Einstein wrote a series of papers that changed our view of the universe forever. On the surface, he seemed to have been leading a pleasant, quiet life until then. He had often been interested in physics puzzles as a child, and was now a recent university graduate, easygoing enough to have many friends. He had married a bright fellow student, Mileva, and was earning enough money from a civil service job in the patent office to spend his evenings and Sundays in pub visits, or long walks-above all, he had a great deal of time to think.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough his father's letter hadn't succeeded, a friend of Einstein's from the university, Marcel Grossman, had pulled the right strings to get Einstein the patent job in 1902. Grossman's help was necessary not so much because Einstein's final university grades were unusually low-through cramming with the ever-useful Grossman's notes, Einstein had just managed to reach a 4.91 average out of a possible 6, which was almost average-but because one professor, furious at Einstein for telling jokes and cutting classes, had spitefully written unacceptable references. Teachers over the years had been irritated by his lack of obedience, most notably Einstein's high school Greek grammar teacher, Joseph Degenhart, the one who has achieved immortality in the history books through insisting that \"nothing would ever become of you.\" Later, when told it would be best if he left the school, Degenhart had explained, \"Your presence in the class destroys the respect of the students.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOutwardly Einstein appeared confident, and would joke with his friends about the way everyone in authority seemed to enjoy putting him down. The year before, in 1904, he had applied for a promotion from patent clerk third class to patent clerk second class. His supervisor, Dr. Haller, had rejected him, writing in an assessment that although Einstein had \"displayed some quite good achievements,\" he would still have to wait \"until he has become fully familiar with mechanical engineering.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn reality, though, the lack of success was becoming serious. Einstein and his wife had given away their first child, a daughter born before they were married, and were now trying to raise the second on a patent clerk's salary. Einstein was twenty-six. He couldn't even afford the money for part-time help to let his wife go back to her studies. Was he really as wise as his adoring younger sister, Maja, had told him?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe managed to get a few physics articles published, but they weren't especially impressive. He was always aiming for grand linkages-his very first paper, published back in 1901, had tried to show that the forces controlling the way liquid rises up in a drinking straw were similar, fundamentally, to Newton's laws of gravitation. But he could not quite manage to get these great linkages to work, and he got almost no response from other physicists. He wrote to his sister, wondering if he'd ever make it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven the hours he had to keep at the patent office worked against him. By the time he got off for the day, the one science library in Bern was usually closed. How would he have a chance if he couldn't even stay up to date with the latest findings? When he did have a few free moments during the day, he would scribble on sheets he kept in one drawer of his desk-which he jokingly called his department of theoretical physics. But Haller kept a strict eye on him, and the drawer stayed closed most of the time. Einstein was slipping behind, measurably, compared to the friends he'd made at the university. He talked with his wife about quitting Bern and trying to find a job teaching high school. But even that wasn't any guarantee: he had tried it before, only four years earlier, but never managed to get a permanent post.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then, on what Einstein later remembered as a beautiful day in the spring of 1905, he met his best friend, Michele Besso (\"I like him a great deal,\" Einstein wrote, \"because of his sharp mind and his simplicity\"), for one of their long strolls on the outskirts of the city. Often they just gossiped about life at the patent office, and music, but today Einstein was uneasy. In the past few months a great deal of what he'd been thinking about had started coming together, but there was still something Einstein felt he was very near to understanding but couldn't quite see. That night Einstein still couldn't quite grasp it, but the next day he suddenly woke up, feeling \"the greatest excitement.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt took just five or six weeks to write up a first draft of the article, filling thirty-some pages. It was the start of his theory of relativity. He sent the article to Annalen der Physik to be published, but a few weeks later, he realized that he had left something out. A three-page supplement was soon delivered to the same physics journal. He admitted to another friend that he was a little unsure how accurate the supplement was: \"The idea is amusing and enticing, but whether the Lord is laughing at it and has played a trick on me-that I cannot know.\" But in the text itself he began, confidently: \"The results of an electrodynamic investigation recently published by me in this journal lead to a very interesting conclusion, which will be derived here.\" And then, four paragraphs from the end of this supplement, he wrote it out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eE=mc2 had arrived in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Reprinted from E=mc2, A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis by permission of Berkley, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. Copyright © 2000, David Bodanis. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Berkley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304993345765,"sku":"NP9780425181645","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780425181645.jpg?v=1767725787","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/emc2-isbn-9780425181645","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}