Einstein: Relativity Fundamentals and Legacy

Introduction

When Einstein first published his theory of relativity in 1905, it was said that there were no more than a small handful of scientists in the world who could understand it. Sir Arthur Eddington, an English astrophysicist and one of the early champions of relativity, was asked whether it was true that he was one of only three people in the world who understood relativity. He replied, “who is the third?” He implied, obviously, that he and Einstein were the only two people who understood the theory and there was no third person.

In this essay we will make a good effort to become that third person, although the number today, more than one hundred years later, is much larger. We will make the effort, with and without the math, as it is not possible to understand the revolution of modern physics without a good appreciation of basic relativity.

Early life

Albert Einstein was a true intellectual giant and his name today is synonymous with genius. He was born in Ulm on 14 March 1879. Built on the banks of the Danube, Ulm was best known for having the tallest church in the world. Today it is also known as the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

Einstein was born into a middle class, non-observant Ashkenazi Jewish family. The Ashkenazi are a Jewish ethnic…