Widely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his theory of relativity and helped to lead us into the atomic age. Yet, in the final decades of his life, he was ignored by most working scientists, his ideas opposed by even his closest friends. As writer David Bodanis explains here, this stunning downfall can be traced to Einstein's earliest successes and to personal qualities...

Dramatizes how Einstein arrived at his 1905 discovery that the realms of matter and energy are linked. Reveals the roots of this breakthrough in the human stories of scientists Michael Farady, Antoine Lavoisier and Lise Maitner, whose innovative thinking across four centures helped lead to E=mc², and ultimately unleashed the power of the atom.