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Abstract

One of the greatest intellectual achievements of the twentieth century was the formulation of the special theory of relativity in 1905 by Albert Einstein (1879–1955). This theory is an outgrowth of nineteenth century physics— particularly of the synthesis of electromagnetic phenomena into a unified electromagnetic theory in 1864 by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879). One of its consequences was the prediction of the existence of electromagnetic waves which travel with the speed of light.

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© 1972 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

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Semat, H., Albright, J.R. (1972). The Special Theory of Relativity. In: Introduction to Atomic and Nuclear Physics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9701-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9701-8_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-15670-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-9701-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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