DOC.
30 FOUNDATION OF GENERAL RELATIVITY
147
THE FOUNDATION OF
THE GENERAL
THEORY
OF RELATIVITY
By
A.
EINSTEIN
A.
Fundamental Considebations
on
the
Postulate
of
Relativity
§
1.
Observations
on
the
Special
Theory
of
Relativity
THE
special
theory
of
relativity
is based
on
the
following
postulate,
which
is also
satisfied
by
the
mechanics
of
Galileo
and Newton.
If
a
system of
co-ordinates
K
is chosen
so
that,
in
re-
lation
to it,
physical
laws
hold
good
in their
simplest
form,
the
same
laws also hold
good
in relation
to
any
other
system
of co-ordinates K'
moving
in uniform translation
relatively
to K.
This
postulate
we
call
the
"special principle
of
relativity."
The
word
"special"
is
meant to intimate
that the
principle
is
restricted
to
the
case
when
K'
has
a
motion
of
uniform
translation
relatively
to
K,
but
that the
equivalence
of K' and K does not
extend
to
the
case
of
non-
uniform motion
of
K'
relatively
to K.
Thus the
special
theory
of
relativity
does
not
depart
from
classical
mechanics
through
the
postulate of
relativity,
but
through
the
postulate
of
the
constancy
of
the
velocity
of
light
in
vacuo,
from
which,
in combination
with
the
special
prin-
ciple
of
relativity,
there
follow,
in the
well-known
way,
the
relativity
of
simultaneity,
the Lorentzian
transformation,
and
the related
laws for
the behaviour
of
moving
bodies
and
clocks.
The
modification to
which the
special
theory
of
relativity
has
subjected
the
theory
of
space
and time
is
indeed
far-
reaching,
but
one
important
point
has remained
unaffected.
111
Previous Page Next Page