Slashdot Mirror
100th Anniversary of E=mc^2
Starker_Kull writes "E=mc^2 was published as part of Einstein's theory of Special Relativity 100 years ago today." From the article: "In 1905, it was final proof of the genius and imagination of a young German-born scientist who had yet to land a university post. It seems so simple: three letters standing for energy, mass, and the speed of light, brought together with the tightness of a soundbite."
Evidence can be irrefutable, and that is what the original sentence said. The theory of atoms is a couple thousand years old, but Einstein merely gave that theory a boost which couldn't be explained any other way, hence the word "irrefutable" would apply.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
three letters standing for energy, mass, and the speed of light, brought together with the tightness of a soundbite.
Which is my problem with it. Everyone gushes and coos over E=mc^2, like it was the point of Special Relativity. Like if you understand E=mc^2, you understand relativity. It's not. It's a lemma. An "oh, by the way, since we have spent all this effort proving this other, main point, then, with only a trivial amount of extra work, we can prove this too."
Even when you think about it, the big deal about E=mc^2 isn't the equation either - it's the concept that mass and energy are *the same thing* not just "interconvertable" but *the same*. As in the mass of the proton is not from the just mass of the quarks, but in large part from their interaction energy. The c^2 is just a conversion factor. Sure it's big, but besides that it's just a conversion factor.
I'm not knocking E=mc^2 - it's a great discovery. I'm just annoyed at the general public for thinking that E=mc^2 is what relativity is all about. Our "soundbite culture" and all of that. Something deeply profound, interesting and amazing about the fundamental charachter of our universe is reduced to "E=mc^2! Aren't I smart!" glibness.