At a Glance
relativity: References & Edit History
More Articles On This Topic
- conservation of energy
- AstronomyRelativity
- AstronomyTesting relativity
- history of scienceThe 20th-century revolution
- kinetic energy
- conservation of mass
- physical scienceEinsteinâs 1905 trilogy
- principles of physical scienceApplication of Newtonâs laws
- electromagnetic radiationSpeed of electromagnetic radiation and the Doppler effect
- thermonuclear bomb
- Willem de Sitter
Additional Reading
Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory, trans. from the German by Robert W. Lawson (1916, reissued 2001), is a concise presentation with some mathematics. Martin Gardner, Relativity Simply Explained (1962, reissued 1997), is more expansive and less mathematical.
Works for readers with physics background at the college level include Edwin F. Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler, Spacetime Physics: Introduction to Special Relativity, 2nd ed. (1992, reissued 1997), and Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity (1995, reissued 2001); and Ray A. dâInverno, Introducing Einsteinâs Relativity (1997).
The philosophical meaning of relativity is presented in Hans Reichenbach, Philosophy of Space and Time, trans. by Maria Reichenbach and John Freund (1958; originally published in German, 1928); and Lawrence Sklar, Space, Time, and Spacetime (1974, reissued 1977). The historical context for relativity is discussed in Helge Kragh, Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century (1999, reissued 2002).
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
Other Contributors
- KeithGM Gmeinder
- Lathikka Niriella
Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors
Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invalidated site: NBC News - What is relativity? Einstein's mind-bending theory explained. | Nov 07, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: NBC News - What is relativity? Einstein's mind-bending theory explained. | Jan 15, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: Physics LibreTexts - Foundations of Relativity. | Oct 24, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: CORE - Relativity theory between structural and dynamical explanations (PDF). | Aug 30, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Institute of Physics - Relativity. | Jun 21, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Stanford University - Computer Science Department - How to Understand Relativity (PDF). | Jan 14, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: University of Oregon - Relativity. | Nov 18, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Energy.gov - Relativity. | Jul 31, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Institute of Physics - Relativity. | Nov 07, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: OpenStax - University Physics Volume 3 - Relativity. | Apr 28, 2023 | ||
| Link added. | Jan 11, 2023 | ||
| Link added. | Jan 11, 2023 | ||
| Media added. | Jun 01, 2021 | ||
| Media added. | May 28, 2021 | ||
| Changed âelectricity and magnetism, which have been unified as electromagnetismâ to âelectromagnetism.â | Oct 13, 2020 | ||
| Added image of the black hole in M87. | Apr 10, 2019 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Apr 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Space.com - Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. | Jan 29, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: LiveScience - What is Relativity? | Jan 28, 2019 | ||
| Clarified the circumstances in which special relativity applies. | Nov 21, 2017 | ||
| Revised discussion of gravitational waves to include observations of them in 2015. |
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Aug 25, 2016 | |
| Media added. | May 03, 2016 | ||
| Added video about how dimensions are distinguished. | Dec 01, 2015 | ||
| Added video about what is absolute in the theory of relativity. | Nov 24, 2015 | ||
| Date of Einstein's theory of general relativity changed from 1916 to 1915. |
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Mar 05, 2015 | |
| In the section Cosmology before relativity, changed the date when James Clerk Maxwell "showed that light is an electromagnetic wave with oscillating electrical and magnetic components" from 1873 to 1865. |
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Feb 19, 2015 | |
| Add new Web site: NeoK12 - Educational Videos and Games for School Kids - Relativity. | Nov 03, 2011 | ||
| handled for the cross-ref removal 11 cluster | Mar 13, 2009 | ||
| Added new Web site: University of New South Wales - Einstein's theory of relativity. | Jul 21, 2008 | ||
| Added new Web site: University of California - Relativity Tutorial. | Jul 09, 2008 | ||
| Added new Web site: Columbia University in the City of New York - Department of Physics - Combining Relativity and Quantum Theory. | Jul 04, 2008 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Mar 16, 2007 | ||
| Bibliography revised. | Apr 27, 2006 | ||
| Article thoroughly revised. | Apr 27, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Feb 10, 2000 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 26, 1999 |
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