Relativity

Around the end of the 19th Century, it seemed that physicists had been extremely successful in explaining the physical world using what is now known as Classical Physics.

Indeed, a number of famous physicists have been quoted as believing that physics was all but understood, except for some detailed, more accurate, calculations. One of these was Albert Michelson, the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (in 1907). He said in 1894:

"The most important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplemented by new discoveries is exceedingly remote.... Our future discoveries must be looked for in the sixth place of decimals."

Another was the University of Munich physics professor Philipp von Jolly, who advised Max Planck (now recognized as a founder of Quantum Theory) against going into physics, saying:

"In this field, almost everything is already discovered, and all that remains is to fill a few holes."

In 1900, Lord Kelvin said (although this quote is disputed):

"There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement"

Boy, were they wrong!

The world was on the brink of discovering two major new aspects of physics:

1. Relativity, and
2. Quantum Theory

Here, we'll start with Relativity...