2016-10-03 Mon

It has been 100 years since one of the world’s greatest equations was formulated – E=mc2. And there can’t be a better way for the world of numismatics to mark this significant feat that was achieved by the genius Albert Einstein.

100 years of Theory of relativity has been celebrated by the Royal Mint of Belgium by issuing two new coins. The obverse features a portrait of Einstein taken from his actual 1947 photograph. A blackboard with bits of the formula that arrived at the world famous equation E=mc2 is also depicted on the coins. The words ALBERT and EINSTEIN are included in the obverse design. The reverse design includes the current map of the European Union with 12 stars. The denominations 10 EURO or 50 EURO and the three versions of the country’s name Belgique, Belgie, and Belgien also appear with a typographic composite. The mintmark of the new mint master, Ingrid Van Herzele, and the year 2016 are inscribed on the reverse.

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) found out that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers. He published this hypothesis in 1905 known as “special relativity”. Einstein discovered that everything in the universe is moving relative to everything else. This was the beginning of Einstein’s final theory of relativity in 1916.

The equation E = mc2 explains the relationship between mass and energy where E is the energy of a physical system, m is the mass of the system, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum (about 3×108 m/s).

Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics” and his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. Theory of Relativity needed further research which was carried out by a physicist specializing in mathematical physics named S.N. Bose.

With this theory, he formed the basis of science and mathematics.