The beauty formula

The design between heretical and erratic

Abstract

For some years now, I have noted on the blackboard with chalk three letters, one upper and two lower cases, one marked with a number at the apex, linked by an identity sign: E=mc2. An equation that ritually astounds my students, as they think I am referring to the famous formula of special relativity theorised by Albert Einstein in 1905, in which 'E' denotes the total relativistic energy of a body, 'm' its relativistic mass and 'c' the constant speed of light in vacuum.