Relativity: The Special and the General Theory - Paperback

by Robert W. Lawson (Translator), Albert Einstein (Author)

Relativity: The Special and General Theory
Albert EINSTEIN (1879 - 1955), Translated by Robert W. Lawson (1890 - 1960)

This is an introduction to Einstein's space-bending, time-stretching theory of Relativity, written by the master himself. Special and General relativity explain the structure of space time and provide a theory of gravitation, respectively. Einstein's theories shocked the world with their counterintuitive results, including the dissolution of absolute time. In this book he brings a simplified form of his profound understanding of the subject to the layperson. In the words of Einstein: "The present book is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics." The book is challenging at times but, when approached patiently, proves itself one of the most lucid explanations of Relativity to be found anywhere.

Author Biography

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). While best known for his mass---energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"), he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory.