Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German-born U.S. theoretical physicist. repr. in The Principle of Relativity, eds. Einstein, H.A. Lorentz, et al (1923). “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend upon Its Energy Content?” Annalen der Physik, no. 17 (Sept. 1905).
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity contained the formula, “If a body gives off the energy E in the form of radiation its mass diminishes by E/C²” (represented by the equation E=mc²). The equation does not appear in this form in Einstein’s original paper, which at first met with indifferent or negative reactions. Roland Barthes later wrote: “Through the mythology of Einstein, the world blissfully regained the image of knowledge reduced to a formula” (Mythologies, “The Brain of Einstein,” 1957).
