Skeptical Inquirer - Committee for Skeptical Inquiry en
Copyright 2013 2013-12-06T23:01:47+00:00 Special Relativity
after 100 Years Thu, 01 Sep 2005 13:22:00 EDT () Special
relativity has been phenomenally successful, but its
nonintuitive nature has made it difficult for us to absorb
Einstein’s central message about time and simultaneity.  One
hundred years after Albert Einstein gave us the theory of
special relativity, we have made good progress in applying the
equations he gave us, but we have difficulty absorbing his
central message about time and simultaneity. Time and again, his
predictions have been tested; the Global Positioning System
simply wouldn’t give us good results unless Einstein’s equations
were hidden in the little handheld GPS instruments used by
hunters and hikers to find their way in the woods. Special
relativity has been combined with quantum physics to produce
quantum electrodynamics, the most accurate physical theory ever
devised. Shortly after Einstein finished his famous paper, he
use