Product Description

Professor Brian Cox and Professor Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of 21st century science to consider the real meaning behind the iconic sequence of symbols that make up Einstein s most famous equation. Breaking down the symbols themselves, they pose a series of questions: What is energy? What is mass? What has the speed of light got to do with energy and mass? In answering these questions, they take us to the site of one of the largest scientific experiments ever conducted. Lying beneath the city of Geneva, straddling the Franco-Swiss boarder, is a 27 km particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider. Using this gigantic machine - which can recreate conditions in the early Universe fractions of a second after the Big Bang - Cox and Forshaw will describe the current theory behind the origin of mass. Alongside questions of energy and mass, they will consider the third, and perhaps, most intriguing element of the equation: c - or the speed of light. Why is it that the speed of light is the exchange rate? Answering this question is at the heart of the investigation as the authors demonstrate how, in order to truly understand why E=mc2, we first must understand why we must move forward in time and not backwards and how objects in our 3-dimensional world actually move in 4-dimensional space-time. In other words, how the very fabric of our world is constructed. A collaboration between two of the youngest professors in the UK, Why Does E=MC2? promises to be one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of the theory of relativity in recent years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2205 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

Review
'(The authors have)blazed a clear trail into forbidding territory, from the mathematical structure of space-time all the way to atom bombs, astrophysics and the origin of mass." --The New Scientist

To get at the origins of E=mc2, the poster-child for Einsteins's special theory of relativity, [Cox and Forshaw] must delve into deep principles of science and wield a good deal of mathematics. They do it well...They have blazed a clear trail into forbidding territory, from the mathematical structure of space-time all the way to atom bombs, astrophysics and the origin of mass. -- New Scientist, 24/6/09

(This book) is clear, sparkling in places, and totally without vanity... anyone with an adventurous mind should be intrigued by what two smart physicists say about (relativity theory) in plain language...[A] delightful little book.
--The Huffington Post

Review
"The authors do a great job of answering the question in the book's title, and of tying it to the cutting edge of 21st century physics. But they do much more besides. First, they give a real sense of revelation as the
equation emerges from the seemingly unrelated concepts of space and time. Second, they're not afraid to take on questions often asked about the equation."

Review
Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, two physicists, have managed to produce an account of relativity physics accessible to a wide range of various publics. If you're not a physicist (or not yet a physicist) and you want to understand what Einstein and relativity theory are all about, you would do well to read this book. The writing is clear, sparkling in places, and totally without vanity. Relativity theory, Einstein's supreme gift to us, is at the heart of the way science currently looks at physical reality, and anyone with an adventurous mind should be intrigued by what two smart physicists say about it in plain language... Read this book. It's your world, isn't it?

Customer Reviews

A must read
Anyone with an interest in space, physics or science in general must read this book. The way Brian Cox and Jeff Forsham, discuss Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 is enlightening, entertaining and captivating. Physics was never this interesting when I was at school.

The beauty of the book, is how the book can be read by people with no scientific knowledge, or by people who have a good underdstanding of science. Both types of readers will take something from this excellent book. Highly recommended.

Not for the faint hearted
I was really looking forward to reading this book, but it quickly became apparent that unless you've got (or can quickly get) a pretty firm understanding of physics, this becomes treacherous reading. There are a lot of equations, which is fine given the subject, but the explanations are often not nearly clear enough to aid understanding (especially for the lay person).

I'm sure for those who've already got a good grasp of the underlying physics this book will be a great read (hence the 3 stars rather than 2), but for most I fear it will be a book which is started but not finished - and we will be no closer to genuinely understanding why E really does =mc2, I know I'm not.

Too Heavy
It starts well and is quite informative even for the lay reader. As it progesses though it just gets too difficult to follow. There are far too many equations in it which are not very well explained. It could be though, and I guess it is the case, that the reader just has to have a good understanding of maths and physics to get anything out of it. If you don't then you'll struggle.

That said I will re-read it to see if I get it then. I can only recommend this book for people who already understand a little physics and how to make and use equations.