How did Einstein come up with the theory of special relativity?
Basically, he got curious. The “Principle of Relativity” is as old as Gallileo. It is the idea that the laws of physics should be the same for all observers (regardless of any relative motion between them). When it was proven that the speed of light is always the same for all observers (regardless of any relative motion between the light source and the observer,) Einstein began to wonder. Are those two ideas really compatible? What would the laws of the Universe be like if they both were true? Special relativity is pure math. He arrived at it by simple deductive reasoning based on the known laws of physics and those two ideas. The resulting theory is too complex for me to describe here, but you can read about it in his own words. http://www.amazon.com/Relativity-Special… ______________ P.S.: He would later come up with General Relativity by adding one more postulate; the princi
