| Date: 15 April 2011, 18:25
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Preface
The theory of relativity has become a cornerstone of modem physics.
Over the course of time it has been scrutinized in a multitude of
experiments and has always been verified with high accuracy. The
correctness of this theory can no longer be called into question. Right after
its discovery by Albert Einstein in 1905, special relativity was only
gradually accepted because it made numerous predictions contradicting
common sense, fervently castigated by Einstein, and also defied
experiment for too long a time. It was only with the advent of particle or
high energy physics that matter could be accelerated to very high
velocities, close to the speed of light, which not only verified special
relativity but also made it a requirement for machine construction.
The book opens with a description of the smooth transition from
Newtonian to Einsteinian behaviour from electrons as their energy is
progressively increased, and this leads directly to the relativistic
expressions for mass, momentum and energy of a particle. The expansion
of the physical research frontier toward astronomy and cosmology during
the past ten to twenty years conSiderably increased the importance of
special relativity and, above all, general relativity based thereupon.
Since astrophysics has in the same time become very popular among
readers with a scientific background, the two theories of relativity have
attained unprecedented publicity. The fascination with astronomy of
children and youths shall only be mentioned incidentally, it is, however,
one of the most impressive features of schools today. This book proceeds
to do just that, offering a radically reoriented presentation of Einstein's
Theory of Relativity that derives Relativity "from" Newtonian ideas, rather
than "in opposition to" them.
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