An Equation That Changed the World: Newton, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity

Imagine a meeting of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and a present-day physicist - and imagine what we might learn from their conversation. Such an opportunity is precisely what Harald Fritzsch offers in An Equation That Changed the World. Following the style of Galileo's Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, and addressed to readers without specialized knowledge in physics and higher mathematics, this book lets us listen in on an imaginary meeting of the scientists who created classical physics and modern relativity. As Newton and Einstein propound their different views of space and time, and as the fictional professor Adrian Haller brings to the table recent developments in modern physics, we are introduced to the theory of relativity. We learn its source, its workings, and the way it has revolutionized our view of the physical world. Harald Fritzsch, writes a reviewer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, "seems to be an atypical case of a scientist who has a real interest in making the results of science known to nonscientists". His masterly work reveals the intellectual process of scientific discovery that leads from puzzlement to questions to answers and resolution, and, in turn, to new questions and consequences. Decoding Einstein's famous equation, E=mc(superscript 2), Fritzsch illuminates the concepts of space and time in classical mechanics and special relativity. He provides lucid accounts of an extraordinary range of phenomena - from subatomic particles to fusion energy to antimatter - and probes fundamental questions of cosmology. With minimal use of technical terminology or mathematical formulas, Fritzsch not only explains relativity but compels us to see its relevancefor the human race and the survival of our planet.