last updated: 01/01/2003
INTRODUCTION
The analysis proffered by Einstein in his special theory of relativity focuses on an apparent inconsistency. The facts suggest that the Galilei-Newton laws of classical mechanics, as they pertain to the relativity of moving bodies, conflict with the absolute propagation velocity of electromagnetic phenomena. More aptly stated, the law of the propagation of light appears to contradict the established validity of the principle of relative velocity.
last updated: 12/14/2006
THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY
Einstein resolved this contradiction in his argument for a (special) theory of relativity by the application of two hypotheses. Initially Einstein advanced the idea of the relativity of simultaneity and then as his coup de grace, introduced the Lorentz transformation, a mathematical supposition pioneered by Fitzgerald and Lorentz in the late 19th century intended to explain aether. Naturally Einstein's utilization of this mathematical contraction, along with his premise of the non absolute nature of simultaneity, resulted mathematically in the contraction of matter (measuring rods) and time (clock speed) as well as the alteration of time (clock speed) which innate logic aspires to deny. To some the resulting aberrations of time and matter are conceivably more unsettling than the original dilemma. To Einstein these anomalies of time and matter were an undeniable fact of nature and consistent with his elucidation of temporal law. In essence they provided the criterion for a perchance plausible, albeit perplexing, solution to the problem.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned solution, there may yet exist a means of reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable realities without resorting to what could be portrayed as Professor Einstein's odyssey into the logic and mathematics of a Mystical Reality.