Why is Einstein’s E=MC2 such a big deal that everyone’s heard of it? How important was that discovery actually, is it like in the top 3 most important discoveries of all time or is it kind of overhyped?
In: 1393
E=mc^2 (which is a simplified version of a larger equation, which is just one of many equations Einstein developed) is famous largely because it’s short enough to remember and simple enough that it can be explained to almost anyone. It’s the physics equivalent of a bumper sticker slogan—short, sweet, and to the point.
That particular equation is not tremendously *useful* all on its own, but it does point at the underlying truth that mass is just one form of energy, there is no fundamental distinction between the two. That said, E=mc^2 wasn’t a stand-alone discovery. It’s a small part of *special relativity,* a much larger framework that Albert Einstein developed to describe the fundamental physics of the universe. Special relativity turned our understanding of physics upside down, taking us from an era where we thought most of physics had been ironed out into a vast unknown where we had only scratched the surface, and where the fundamentals run against all our common-sense experience. With no exaggeration, relativity was the biggest, most revolutionary development in physics since Isaac Newton formulated his laws of motion and gravity in the 17^th century.
Why is Einstein’s E=MC2 such a big deal that everyone’s heard of it? How important was that discovery actually, is it like in the top 3 most important discoveries of all time or is it kind of overhyped?
In: 1393
E=mc^2 (which is a simplified version of a larger equation, which is just one of many equations Einstein developed) is famous largely because it’s short enough to remember and simple enough that it can be explained to almost anyone. It’s the physics equivalent of a bumper sticker slogan—short, sweet, and to the point.
That particular equation is not tremendously *useful* all on its own, but it does point at the underlying truth that mass is just one form of energy, there is no fundamental distinction between the two. That said, E=mc^2 wasn’t a stand-alone discovery. It’s a small part of *special relativity,* a much larger framework that Albert Einstein developed to describe the fundamental physics of the universe. Special relativity turned our understanding of physics upside down, taking us from an era where we thought most of physics had been ironed out into a vast unknown where we had only scratched the surface, and where the fundamentals run against all our common-sense experience. With no exaggeration, relativity was the biggest, most revolutionary development in physics since Isaac Newton formulated his laws of motion and gravity in the 17^th century.
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