On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies

Introduction

Einstein, aged 26 and working at the patent office in Bern, submitted the paper to the Annalen der Physik in June 1905. It rests on two postulates: the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames, and light in a vacuum always has the same speed, regardless of the motion of its source. From these Einstein derives that simultaneity is relative, that moving clocks run slow and that moving bodies contract, and he declares the ether superfluous. A short follow-up later that year derived the equivalence of mass and energy. For philosophy, the paper’s analysis of how simultaneity is defined through procedures of measurement became a model for Schlick, Reichenbach and the logical empiricists.

Connections

Criticizes

• Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (Principia)1687 · Isaac Newton

Taken up in

• The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge1920 · Hans Reichenbach
• The New Scientific Spirit1934 · Gaston Bachelard