2016-07-13 Wed

Isle of Man – a tiny island between England and Ireland – has recently issued a set of six stamps celebrating 100 years of Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity. This set of six stamps features legends of physics – Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking and their most notable work.

The stamps are designed in pairs, the first pair features the portraits of Einstein and Hawking are shown on the 45-penny and 50p stamps, respectively. The stamps also include Einstein’s equation E=mc2 and Hawking’s entropy of black hole equation, S=¼A.

The other four stamps depict designs related to black hole. Black hole is “a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star.”

The 95p stamp shows gravitational waves powered by two colliding black holes whereas the stamp with the highest denomination of £2.44 shows a representation of a black hole. The last pair is equally exclusive. These two stamps of £1.69 and £1.27 feature two colliding black holes and Hawking radiation respectively.

This special issue was released not only to commemorate the Centenary of Special Relativity but also the recent news of the detection of gravitational waves. With these stamps the Isle of Man has traced the legendary journey of Physics.