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Space/Science » in reply to language of mathematics

E = mc2 did not start out as E = mc2

Today marks the centennial of Einstein's famous equation, E=mc2.

The concept, if not the exact form of the equation as we know it
today, first appeared in the German scientific journal Annals of
Physics. The paper's title was a question: Does the inertia of a
body depend on its energy content?

"If a body gives off the energy L in the form of radiation, then
its mass diminishes by L/V2," he wrote. Einstein originally used
L to represent energy instead of E, and he used V for the speed of
light, rather than the now-standard c. This sentence boils down to
m=E/c2 - as close as Einstein got in his original paper to the
rearranged form we're most familiar with ...

READ MORE:

http://list.astronomy.com/UM/T.asp?A12.80.211.2.278623

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