The beginning of its development, the special theory of relativity was received at the beginning of the 20th century, namely in 1905. Its foundations were considered in the work of Einstein Albert "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies."
With the help of this fundamental work, the scientist raised a number of questions that had no answers at that time. So, for example, he suggested that Maxwell’s teaching is not fully true. Indeed, the interaction according to the laws of electrodynamics between a conductor with a current and a magnet depends solely on the relativity of their movement. But then there is a contradiction with the established views that these two cases of influence on each other should be strictly distinguished. Based on these findings, he suggested that any coordinate systems that depend on the laws of mechanics, to the same extent, and sometimes to a greater extent, depend on optical and electrodynamic laws. Einstein called this conclusion the
"principle of relativity."
The main elements of the special theory of relativity became revolutionary assumptions that laid the foundation for a completely new round of development of physical science. The scientist completely pushed aside the classical ideas about the absoluteness of time and space, as well as the relativity of Galileo. He also took a step to confirm at the level of theory the finite speed of light that was empirically proven by Hertz. He laid the foundation for studying the independence of speed and direction of movement of the light source.
Today, the special theory of relativity makes it possible to significantly accelerate the process of studying the universe. The doctrine developed by Albert Einstein eliminated many of the contradictions that arose in the early twentieth century in physics.
The main goal pursued by the special theory of relativity is to ensure the installation
the relationship between space and time. This greatly simplifies the understanding of the entire world order, in particular, and in general. The postulates of the special theory of relativity allow us to understand many phenomena: the reduction of durations and lengths during the movement of the
body, the increase in mass with increasing speed (mass defect), the lack of connection between different events that occur in one instant (if they occur at completely different points in space-time continuum). He explains all this by the fact that the
maximum propagation
speed of any signals in the Universe does not
exceed the speed of light in vacuum.
The special theory of relativity determines that the mass of a photon at rest is zero, which implies that any outside observer can never catch a photon at superluminal speed and be able to move further with it. Hence, the speed of light is the absolute value and not amenable to its ability to surpass.
Albert Einstein gave a new qualitative leap in the development of physical science throughout the world, and on a scale of the Universe.