Jacob T. Schwartz

Proceeds with Euclidean precision from the assumption that the laws of physics are the same at rest as in uniform motion and from the observation that the speed of light is measured to be the same by any observer in uniform motion to the conclusion that the measurement of time and space are not absolute: that events which one observer sees as occurring at the same time may not appear so to another in relative motion, and that no particle can travel faster than the speed of light. The author has written particularly, he says, for those young people who, between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, awaken to their calling as scientists. Lovely little book. I wish he'd written another in the same style covering all the remaining details.… (more)