Chapter Two, Space, Time, and the Eye of the Beholder Summary and Analysis

In the mid-1800s, James Clerk Maxwell united magnetism and electricity in one mathematical framework, bringing to light the electromagnetic field. He discovered that light was one particular type of electromagnetic wave, and all electromagnetic waves constantly travel at a fixed speed. According to Newton's laws of motion, it would be possibly to catch up with the light eventually: to hold stationary light in one's hand. Einstein took issue with this, and created the framework for special relativity: to understand how the world appears to individuals. Observers in relative motion to each other will have different comprehension of distance and time: space and time are not experienced exactly the same by everyone. Most of the inconsistencies are so small in day-to-day life that...