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[[Image:600px-Albert Einstein Head.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|

[[Image:600px-Albert Einstein Head.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|

*"I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional [[Atheism|atheist]] whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being." - [[Albert Einstein]]<ref name="Isaacson390">Isaacson, Walter (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdxWNE7NY6QC&pg=PT390 ''Einstein: His Life and Universe''] (New York: Simon and Schuster), p. 390.  Retrieved from GoogleBooks archive on February 19, 2015.</ref>]]

*"I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional [[Atheism|atheist]] whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being." - [[Albert Einstein]]<ref name="Isaacson390">Isaacson, Walter (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdxWNE7NY6QC&pg=PT390 ''Einstein: His Life and Universe''] (New York: Simon and Schuster), p. 390.  Retrieved from GoogleBooks archive on February 19, 2015.</ref>]]

*'''[[Special theory of relativity|Special relativity]]''' (SR) is a theory to describe the laws of motion for non-accelerating bodies traveling at a significant fraction of the [[speed of light]].  As speeds approach zero, Special Relativity tends towards equivalence with [[Newton's Laws of Motion]].  Special Relativity was put forward by [[Albert Einstein]]; its mathematical framework was independently developed and formalized by [[Hendrik Lorentz]], [[Henri Poincaré]], and Hermann Minkowski.<ref>"German mathematician who developed the geometrical theory of numbers and who made numerous contributions to number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity." [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9052860/Hermann-Minkowski Hermann Minkowski -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia]</ref><ref>[http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Minkowski.html Hermann Minkowski, Biography]</ref>

*'''[[Special theory of relativity|Special relativity]]''' (SR) is a theory to describe the laws of motion for non-accelerating bodies traveling at a significant fraction of the [[speed of light]].  As speeds approach zero, Special Relativity tends towards equivalence with [[Newton's Laws of Motion]].  Special Relativity was put forward by [[Albert Einstein]]; its mathematical framework was independently developed and formalized by [[Hendrik Lorentz]], [[Henri Poincaré]], and Hermann Minkowski.<ref>"German mathematician who developed the geometrical theory of numbers and who made numerous contributions to number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity." [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9052860/Hermann-Minkowski Hermann Minkowski -- ''Britannica Online Encyclopedia'' website]</ref><ref>[http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Minkowski.html Hermann Minkowski, Biography]</ref>

*'''[[General theory of relativity|General Relativity]]''' (GR) is a theory to explain the laws of motion as viewed from accelerating reference frames and includes a geometric explanation for gravity.  This theory was originally developed by Einstein, with help from [[David Hilbert]] in its final mathematical formulation, as a generalization of the postulates of Special Relativity to account for non-inertial, accelerating observers, particularly those in a gravitational field.<ref>"[T]he German mathematician David Hilbert submitted an article containing the correct field equations for general relativity five days before Einstein."[http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/relativity/history-1.html Nobel Prize historical account]</ref> A dramatic but later discredited<ref>Stephen Hawking, ''Brief History of Time'' ("Their measurement had been sheer luck, or a case of knowing the result they wanted to get.").  Hawking was being kind.  In fact, Eddington excluded data that did not fit his preconceived view.  Further discrediting of Eddington's study was published by Earman, J., Glymour, C., Hist. Stud. Phys. Sci. 11, 49-85 (1980), and Collins, H. M., Pinch, T., The Golem: What Everyone Should Know About Science. Cambridge University Press (1993) (as cited in [http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070907/full/news070903-20.html#B2])</ref> claim by Sir [[Arthur Eddington]] of experimental proof of General Relativity in 1919 popularized the theory.

*'''[[General theory of relativity|General Relativity]]''' (GR) is a theory to explain the laws of motion as viewed from accelerating reference frames and includes a geometric explanation for gravity.  This theory was originally developed by Einstein, with help from [[David Hilbert]] in its final mathematical formulation, as a generalization of the postulates of Special Relativity to account for non-inertial, accelerating observers, particularly those in a gravitational field.<ref>"[T]he German mathematician David Hilbert submitted an article containing the correct field equations for general relativity five days before Einstein."[http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/relativity/history-1.html Nobel Prize historical account]</ref> A dramatic but later discredited<ref>Stephen Hawking, ''Brief History of Time'' ("Their measurement had been sheer luck, or a case of knowing the result they wanted to get.").  Hawking was being kind.  In fact, Eddington excluded data that did not fit his preconceived view.  Further discrediting of Eddington's study was published by Earman, J., Glymour, C., ''Hist. Stud. Phys. Sci.'' 11, 49-85 (1980), and Collins, H. M., Pinch, T., The Golem: What Everyone Should Know About Science. Cambridge University Press (1993) (as cited in [http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070907/full/news070903-20.html#B2])</ref> claim by Sir [[Arthur Eddington]] of experimental proof of General Relativity in 1919 popularized the theory.

These theories have augmented earlier approaches, such as [[Galilean Relativity]].

These theories have augmented earlier approaches, such as [[Galilean Relativity]].

The theory of relativity is defended with religious-like zeal, such that no college faculty tenure, Ph.D degree, or Nobel Prize is ever awarded to anyone who dares criticize the theory, as the example of denying a Nobel Prize to the most accomplished physicist of the 20th century, [[Robert Dicke]], illustrates. Other critics of the theory are [[Nikola Tesla]], who called it a "...magnificent mathematical garb which fascinates, dazzles and makes people blind to the underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar clothed in purple whom ignorant people take for a king ... its exponents are brilliant men but they are metaphysicists, not scientists..."<ref>[http://www.plasmacosmology.net/tesla.html New York Times, July 11, 1935, p23, c8]</ref> and Louis Essen [1908-1997], the man credited with determining the speed of light. He wrote many fiery papers against it such as ''Relativity and Time Signals''<ref>http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Journal%20Reprints-Relativity%20Theory/Download/3297</ref> and ''Relativity - Joke or Swindle?''.<ref>http://www.ekkehard-friebe.de/Essen-L.htm</ref>  Perhaps the most famous website opposing relativity is this one, with its [[Counterexamples to Relativity]] page.  The cornerstone item in that page involves the experimental measurements of the advance of the perihelion of Mercury that show a shift greater than predicted by Relativity, well beyond the margin of error.

The theory of relativity is defended with religious-like zeal, such that no college faculty tenure, Ph.D degree, or Nobel Prize is ever awarded to anyone who dares criticize the theory, as the example of denying a Nobel Prize to the most accomplished physicist of the 20th century, [[Robert Dicke]], illustrates. Other critics of the theory are [[Nikola Tesla]], who called it a "...magnificent mathematical garb which fascinates, dazzles and makes people blind to the underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar clothed in purple whom ignorant people take for a king ... its exponents are brilliant men but they are metaphysicists, not scientists..."<ref>[http://www.plasmacosmology.net/tesla.html ''New York Times'', July 11, 1935, p23, c8]</ref> and Louis Essen [1908-1997], the man credited with determining the speed of light. He wrote fiery papers and many feature articles of the subject in science journals with popular audiences against it such as "Relativity and Time Signals"<ref>http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Journal%20Reprints-Relativity%20Theory/Download/3297</ref> and "Relativity - Joke or Swindle?".<ref>http://www.ekkehard-friebe.de/Essen-L.htm</ref>  Perhaps the most famous website opposing relativity is this one, with its [[Counterexamples to Relativity]] page.  The cornerstone item in that page involves the experimental measurements of the advance of the perihelion of Mercury that show a shift greater than predicted by Relativity, well beyond the margin of error.

There are some issues of continuity and limits arising in the mathematical analysis of the theory of relativity.  See [[Counterexamples to Relativity]] for discussion of this point.

There are some issues of continuity and limits arising in the mathematical analysis of the theory of relativity.  See [[Counterexamples to Relativity]] for discussion of this point.