v1.6.1 / TOC (4 chapters) / 01 apr 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* In 1905, Albert Einstein published his "Special Theory of Relativity", a simple and elegant hypothesis that made a number of remarkable assertions:
These assertions have been confirmed by observations and experiment, and are now generally accepted. Einstein used his theory of Special Relativity as a springboard for a much more comprehensive "Theory of General Relativity", which is also generally accepted.
This document explains how Special Relativity works and provides a short survey of General Relativity. To read this document, you will need to be comfortable with high-school algebra and geometry; if you are not, you will not be able to follow the discussion. You will also need to be familiar with fundamental concepts of classical mechanics. A review of these fundamental concepts is available in the first chapters of a companion document on this site, Elementary Classical Physics. Those preferring a less detailed treatment of the subject may be interested in the brief document A Relativity Primer