1) Albert Einstein published his theory of Special Relativity in 1905 at age 25, revolutionizing the fields of physics and modern science. 2) Special Relativity deals with objects moving at constant velocities relative to each other and establishes that the speed of light is constant in all reference frames. 3) Some key implications of Special Relativity include that time and length are relative rather than absolute, and that matter and energy are equivalent as expressed by the famous equation E=mc2.

1. Special Relativity Basics
At the age of 25, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) has come up with his Theory of
Relativity, actually, the theory of Special relativity. This was at the year of 1905.
Ten years latter, at the year of 1916, after lots of mental effort did he published his
theory of General Relativity.
Both theories did make a huge change in the perception of Energy, Matter, and Space.
The Special relativity deals with bodies and particles moving in a uniform, constant
velocity relative to each other, while the General Relativity deals with accelerated
bodies.
We will discuss here the Special relativity only, and will leave the General relativity
for another article.
Well, what are the basics behind the Special Relativity?
Actually Einstein used already known facts, or partially known facts, and known idea
and concepts, and embedded them into a single complete theory, and reached
innovative ideas.
As a matter of fact, Einstein used the known idea that light speed is constant, no
matter what the frame of measurement is, as long as we deal with non-accelerated
systems. Using this constraint in already known Lorenz transformation formulas
eventually ended up with the some great innovations. One of them is that we no
longer discuss a three dimensional space and a uniform constant Time domain.
Actually we now have a four-dimensional Space-Time domain, in which Time is one
of the dimensions, and is no longer uniform nor absolute. It can “flow” faster or
slower (known as Time Dilation). Similarly, the three classical dimensions of space
now flexible and can “stretch” or “shrink” (known as Length Contraction).
The “new” characteristics of the space-time domain depend on the relative velocity of
bodies and particles, and the velocity of the observers, relative to each other. Note that
this does not have an impact as long as velocities are of the daily use order. Such
phenomenon do occur only when velocities reach tens percentages of the light
velocity. The Special relativity equations show that bodies that move/travel with
velocities that are near light velocity, will move slower, and will “shrink” in length,
for an observer positioned on earth.
Another outcome of the Specific relativity is that Matter and Energy being equivalent.
This means that matter can transform to energy, and vice versa. This idea is expressed
2.
in the famous Einstein formula: E = mc
This equation is the essence of the nuclear energy, which is used in nuclear reactors
all over the world for electricity generation, and is used, unfortunately, in Atomic
bombs.

2. The famous equation of Einstein well fits to the Quantum mechanics (Quantum
theory) which evolved along with the publishing of the Specific relativity theory. It is
most interesting to note that, in spite of this, Einstein did not like the Quantum theory,
for several reasons. We will not discuss this in this article.
Being based on very simple and known facts and ideas, and quite simple mathematics,
the Special Relativity was quickly adopted by the scientist world, and also by regular
people (this is noted here, as the General Relativity was not so acceptable).
It was the Special relativity, thus, that made Einstein a great celebrity all over the
world.
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