An Equation That Changed the World: Newton, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity / Edition 2

by Harald Fritzsch, Karin Heusch

Overview

Fritzsch offers readers the opportunity to listen in on a meeting of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and a present-day physicist. While he introduces the theory of relativity, Fritzsch teaches its sources, its workings, and the ways it has revolutionized our view of the physical world. An Equation That Changed the World dramatizes the importance of relativity, for the human race, and the survival of our planet.

"Fritzsch could not give the modern reader a more memorable introduction to the personalities and science of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein unless somehow he could find the keys to H. G. Wells' time machine. . . . Many readers will applaud Fritzsch for this lively but profoundly insightful book." —Booklist, starred review

"[Fritzsch] has dreamed up a dialogue between the two great physicists, helped along by a fictional modern physicist. . . . The conversation builds up to an explanation of E=mc2, and on the way illuminates the important points where Newtonian and Einsteinian theory diverge." —David Lindley, New York Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226265582
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	12/08/1997
Edition description:	1
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Preface to the English Edition
Editorial Note
Introduction
1: Newton and the Ocean of Truth
2: Newton and Absolute Space
3: Meeting Newton
4: A Dialogue on Light
5: Newton Meets Einstein
6: The Speed of Light as a Constant of Nature
7: Events, World Lines, and a Paradox
8: Light in Space and Time
9: Time Dilation
10: Fast Muons Live Longer
11: The Twin Paradox
12: Space Contraction
13: The Marvel of Space-Time
14: Mass in Space and Time
15: An Equation That Changed the World
16: The Power of the Sun
17: Lightning at Alamogordo
18: Energy Hidden in the Nucleus
19: Mysterious Antimatter
20: Marveling at Elementary Particles
21: Does Matter Decay?
Epilogue
Sources of Quotations
Suggested Reading
Glossary

Editorial Reviews

So Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and a present-day physicist meet in a pub one night. Inevitably the conversation shifts from the weather to physics, in particular the equation that is challenged in popularity only by Pythagoras' classic. Fortunately they realize that the other patrons listening in have no background in science, and keep the language polite. Fritzsch (theoretical physics, U. of Munich and the Max Planck Institute) patterns his conversation after Galileo's Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, and includes a glossary and index. Translated from the 1988 German edition. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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