See Also

Theory of relativity

The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, refers specifically to two theories: Albert Einstein Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German [i]-born theoretical physicist [i]. ... 

's special relativity Special relativity

The special theory of relativity was proposed in 1905 [i] by Albert Einstein [i] in his article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies [i] ... 

 and general relativity General relativity

General relativity is the geometrical [i] theory [i] of gravitation [i] published by Albert Einstein [i] ... 

. The term "relativity" was coined by Max Planck Max Planck

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German [i] physicist [i]. ... 

 in 1908 to emphasize how special relativity uses the principle of relativity.

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The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, refers specifically to two theories: Albert Einstein Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German [i]-born theoretical physicist [i]. ... 

's special relativity Special relativity

The special theory of relativity was proposed in 1905 [i] by Albert Einstein [i] in his article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies [i] ... 

 and general relativity General relativity

General relativity is the geometrical [i] theory [i] of gravitation [i] published by Albert Einstein [i] ... 

.

The term "relativity" was coined by Max Planck Max Planck

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German [i] physicist [i]. ... 

 in 1908 to emphasize how special relativity uses the principle of relativity.

Special relativity

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German [i]-born theoretical physicist [i]. ... 

's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies Annus Mirabilis Papers

The Annus Mirabilis Papers are the papers of Albert Einstein [i] published in the "Annalen der Physik [i] ... 

" introduced the special theory of relativity. Special relativity considers that observers in inertial reference frames, which are in uniform motion relative to one another, cannot perform any experiment to determine which one of them is "stationary". This is actually Galileo Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian [i] physicist [i], astronomer [i], astrologer [i] and philosopher [i] ... 

's principle of relativity; Einstein's contribution was to explicitly include electromagnetism within this principle, which required that the Galilean transformations be replaced by the Lorentz transformation Lorentz transformation

A Lorentz transformation is a linear transformation [i] that preserves the spacetime interval [i] betwee ... 

s. The resultant theory has many surprising consequences. In particular, it requires that the speed of light Speed of light

The speed of light in a vacuum [i] is an important physical constant [i] denoted by the letter c for ... 

 in a vacuum Vacuum

A vacuum is a volume [i] of space [i] that is substansively empty of matter [i], so that gaseous pressur ... 

 be the same for all these observers, regardless of their motion, or the motion of the source of the light Light

Light is electromagnetic radiation [i] with a wavelength [i] that is visible to the eye [i] or, in a technical [i] ... 

, since the invariance of the speed of light is a consequence of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism.

General relativity

General relativity was developed by Einstein in the years 1907 - 1915. General relativity replaces the global Lorentz symmetry of special relativity with a local Lorentz symmetry in the presence of matter. The presence of matter "curves" spacetime, and this curvature Curvature

Curvature refers to a number of loosely related concepts in different areas of geometry.... 

 affects the path of free particles . General relativity uses the mathematics of differential geometry and tensors in order to describe gravitation Gravitation

In physics [i], gravitation or gravity is the tendency of objects with mass [i] to accelerate [i] ... 

 as an effect of the geometry Geometry

Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships.... 

 of spacetime. This theory is based on the general principle of relativity, which requires all observers to experience the same laws of physics, not just those moving with uniform speed, hence its name.

See also



  • Special relativity Special relativity

    The special theory of relativity was proposed in 1905 [i] by Albert Einstein [i] in his article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies [i] ... 

     including Introduction to special relativity Introduction to special relativity

    Although the special theory of relativity [i] was first proposed by Albert Einstein [i] in 1905, the theory's ... 

  • General relativity General relativity

    General relativity is the geometrical [i] theory [i] of gravitation [i] published by Albert Einstein [i] ... 

     including Introduction to general relativity
  • Galilean relativity

References and links


See the special relativity references Special relativity

The special theory of relativity was proposed in 1905 [i] by Albert Einstein [i] in his article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies [i] ... 

 and the general relativity references General relativity

General relativity is the geometrical [i] theory [i] of gravitation [i] published by Albert Einstein [i] ... 

.

External links


  • — An open access, peer-referred, solely online physics journal publishing invited reviews covering all areas of relativity research.
  • — A complete online course on Relativity.
  • — A terse dose of insight on the subject.
  • — A basic introduction to concepts of Special and General Relativity, as well as astrophysics.
  • — A short course offered at MIT.
  • from the University of New South Wales.






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