Albert Einstein’s fundamental theories and discoveries were a reflection of not just his brilliance but also his determination and fascination with the laws that govern the universe. A quote from him claims, “I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.” (history.org). In 1905, at the Swiss patent office, he published four fundamental papers on his varying theorems and principles. These were all published in the time span of a few months. The first paper saw the theory that light acted as a stream of particles, the second paper offered proof of the existence of atoms, the third paper addressed a physics puzzle of those times -- one that argued the connection of ordinary motion with the electromagnetic theory -- to which he solved with the theory of relativity, and the final paper described the connection that mass and energy are part of the same thing and showed this through the famous formula, E=mc^2. And keep in mind that he was just twenty-six years old when this was happening. But why is e=mc^2 so revolutionary? What does it mean?

Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, or e=mc^2, describes the relationship of energy and matter in a way that insinuates that, in certain circumstances, they are interchangeable through the speed of light. In essence, the equation claims that there is a set amount of energy that can be converted from mass through traveling at speeds faster than light. For instance, let"s say we take a 1kg apple and launch it out of a cannon at the speed of approximately 8.988x10^16 meters per second (speed of light squared) to the point where the mass of the apple would be converted into pure energy. That energy would be (1 kg)(8.988x10^16 m/s) which would equal… well 8.988x10^16 joules. To put that into perspective a nuclear bomb would have the energy potential of about 4.18x10^15 joules. That’s a lot of energy. Ironically and devastatingly, this discovery has led to the creation of nuclear weaponry that has been the cause of countless lives lost.