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660 bytes removed ,  18:41, June 4, 2016
→‎Description for the layman: This quote has nothing to do with the formula.
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The equation is extremely famous, and just as extremely misunderstood, in popular culture.  Among the more outlandish claims are statements to the effect that "E=mc&sup2; holds the secret of the atomic bomb."<ref>Not so.  The energy of the atomic bomb comes not from E=mc&sup2;, but from the tension between the electrostatic force and the strong nuclear force.  E=mc&sup2; simply meant that the fission products from the [[Little Boy|Hiroshima]] bomb weighed 0.7 grams less than the original Uranium.</ref>
 
The equation is extremely famous, and just as extremely misunderstood, in popular culture.  Among the more outlandish claims are statements to the effect that "E=mc&sup2; holds the secret of the atomic bomb."<ref>Not so.  The energy of the atomic bomb comes not from E=mc&sup2;, but from the tension between the electrostatic force and the strong nuclear force.  E=mc&sup2; simply meant that the fission products from the [[Little Boy|Hiroshima]] bomb weighed 0.7 grams less than the original Uranium.</ref>
[[Image:600px-Albert Einstein Head.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|
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*"I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional [[Atheism|atheist]] whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being." - [[Albert Einstein]]<ref name="Isaacson390">Isaacson, Walter (2008). [http://books.google.com/books?id=cdxWNE7NY6QC&pg=PT390 ''Einstein: His Life and Universe''] (New York: Simon and Schuster), p. 390.  Retrieved from GoogleBooks archive on February 19, 2015.</ref>]]
   
The equation has acquired something of a "cult" status.  In the USA, the popular ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' series featured '''E=mc&sup2;''' prominently, giving the equation greater currency with the public. The song ''[[Albert Einstein|Einstein]] A Go-Go'' by the band Landscape had a similar effect in the UK in the 1980s.  The equation was the title of a single by ''Big Audio Dynamite'' in 1985, and an album by Mariah Carey in 2008.  Some movies have been themed on this equation.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322120/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_2, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116160/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1</ref>  The equation, along with a picture of a mushroom cloud and a picture of [[Albert Einstein]], were featured on the front cover of an issue of ''Time'' magazine in 1946.  All of this is disappointing when one considers how few people actually understand what the equation is saying.
 
The equation has acquired something of a "cult" status.  In the USA, the popular ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' series featured '''E=mc&sup2;''' prominently, giving the equation greater currency with the public. The song ''[[Albert Einstein|Einstein]] A Go-Go'' by the band Landscape had a similar effect in the UK in the 1980s.  The equation was the title of a single by ''Big Audio Dynamite'' in 1985, and an album by Mariah Carey in 2008.  Some movies have been themed on this equation.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322120/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_2, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116160/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1</ref>  The equation, along with a picture of a mushroom cloud and a picture of [[Albert Einstein]], were featured on the front cover of an issue of ''Time'' magazine in 1946.  All of this is disappointing when one considers how few people actually understand what the equation is saying.
  
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