E=mc²

English

Etymology

A sculpture of Template:W and his mass–energy equivalence formula $E = m c^{2}$ in Irrhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

After the formula of mass–energy equivalence, an important principle discovered by the German-born theoretical physicist Template:W (1879–1955).

The formula entered the popular consciousness after it was included in the opening pages of the Template:W (1945), a widely read document that explained the United States’ nuclear weapons program to the public for the first time. Its appearance alongside a portrait of the (already well known) Einstein on a Time magazine cover the following year consolidated its fame.