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→E=mc<sup>2</sup>: Szilard was not the first to realize the potential; all the early workers knew this, and H. G. Wells wrote a 1914 novel about it. Szilard figured out how to release it quickly.
Einstein’s famous formula E=mc<sup>2</sup> says that mass and energy can turn into each other. It was first published by H. Poincare. E stands for [[energy]], m is [[mass]], and c is the [[speed of light]]. So, if you increase the energy of a substance, for example by heating it, it gains a minute amount of mass. It was later realized that if you split an atom apart, as in a nuclear explosion, it loses a tiny amount of mass and you release a huge amount of [[energy]].
Einstein’s famous formula E=mc<sup>2</sup> says that mass and energy can turn into each other. It was first published by H. Poincare. E stands for [[energy]], m is [[mass]], and c is the [[speed of light]]. So, if you increase the energy of a substance, for example by heating it, it gains a minute amount of mass. It was later realized that if you split an atom apart, as in a nuclear explosion, it loses a tiny amount of mass and you release a huge amount of [[energy]].
Leo Szilard discovered that this revealed a new potential source of power. Energy binds together the parts of an [[atom]], including the [[nucleus]]. The nucleus of an atom is tiny, but very little mass could release a huge amount of energy. When one nucleus splits apart, it splits other nuclei around it. This is called a [[chain reaction]].
Early workers in radioactivity, such as Ernest Rutherford, understood clearly that the natural radioactive decay of radium released quantities of energy that could not be explained by chemistry, and were much larger than those of chemical reactions. Einstein provided a theoretical framework that accounted for this. Leo Szilard, inspired by a fictional H. G. Wells novel, discovered or invented the chain reaction, which made it possible to release nuclear energy more rapidly than by natural decay processes, making it possible to use nuclear energy for weapons or practical energy production.
Energy binds together the parts of an [[atom]], including the [[nucleus]]. The nucleus of an atom is tiny, but very little mass could release a huge amount of energy. When one nucleus splits apart, it splits other nuclei around it. This is called a [[chain reaction]].
===Cosmological Constant===
===Cosmological Constant===