ABSTRACT
Everything in the universe may be described in terms of matter and energy, or, more precisely, in terms of energy. Whether we are dealing with galaxies with their millions of blazing suns, a tiny atom with its tightly packed nucleus and darting electrons, a single living cell or a complex multicellular organism, or with a society of ants, apes, or men, we are confronted with a dynamic material system, one that can be described and made intelligible in terms of energy magnitudes and transformations. Energy is the basic and universal concept of science. “Through the various ideas of phlogiston, imponderable fluids, attractions, repulsions, affinities, and forces, science has ended with the simple universal conception of energy,” as the eminent British physicist Frederick Soddy observed many years ago. 1
