To celebrate the centennial of Einstein's E = mc2, NOVA asked 10 top physicists--two Nobel Prize winners among them--how they would describe the equation to curious non-physicists. Subscribe to our podcast to hear a different physics luminary each week. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. This podcast was produced by Lexi Krock and David Levin.
NOVA E = mc2 | Lene Hau
Lene Hau, Experimental Physicist, Harvard University: "You can get access to parts of nature you have never been able to get access to before."
• 1 minute, 30 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Frank Wilczek
Frank Wilczek, Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Laureate, MIT: "Ninety-five percent of the mass of matter as we know it comes from energy."
• 1 minute, 25 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History: "It's something that doesn't happen in your kitchen or in everyday life."
• 3 minutes, 3 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Janet Conrad
Janet Conrad, Experimental Physicist, Columbia University: "For me there's a lot more to the equation than E = mc2."
• 1 minute, 52 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Alan Guth
Alan Guth, Theoretical Physicist, MIT: "It's easiest to explain by how things looked from the point of view of Newton."
• 2 minutes, 7 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Sheldon Glashow
Sheldon Glashow, Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Laureate, Boston University: "When an object emits light, say, a flashlight, it gets lighter."
• 2 minutes, 49 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Brian Greene
Brian Greene, Theoretical Physicist, Columbia University: "It certainly is not an equation that reveals all its subtlety in the few symbols that it takes to write down."
• 2 minutes, 38 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Michio Kaku
Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist, City University of New York: "E = mc2 is the secret of the stars."
• 1 minute, 26 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Nima Arkani-Hamed
Nima Arkani-Hamed, Theoretical Physicist, Harvard University: "Things that seem incredibly different can really be manifestations of the same underlying phenomena."
• 1 minute, 41 seconds
NOVA E = mc2 | Tim Halpin-Healy
Tim Halpin-Healy, Theoretical Physicist, Barnard College, Columbia University: "Moving clocks run slow, moving meter sticks are shortened -- how does that happen?"
