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Definition: relativity from The Penguin Dictionary of Science

The area of physics that deals with the behaviour of objects at high speed or in high gravitational fields. ➤general relativity; special relativity.

relativity

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
physical theory, introduced by Albert Einstein, that discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference. One consequence of the theory is that space and time are no longer viewed as separate, independent entities but rather are seen to form a four-dimensional continuum called space-time . Full comprehension of the mathematical formulation of the theory can be attained only through a study of certain branches of mathematics, e.g., tensor calculus. Both the special and general theories have been established and accepted into the structure of physics. Einstein also sought unsuccessfully for many years to incorporate the theory into a unified field theory valid also for subatomic and electromagnetic phenomena. The modern theory is an extension of the simpler Galilean or Newtonian concept of relativity, which holds that the laws of mechanics are the same in one system as in another system in uniform motion relative to…
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Full text Article relativity

From The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style
Albert Einstein's theories of relativity are among the greatest achievements of 20th-century science. By virtue of this success, and of Einstein's fame, the word relativity is now commonly used as if Einstein were the first to make use of the concept of relative motion. In fact, the idea of…
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Full text Article relativity

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Theory, proposed by German-born US physicistAlbert Einstein , based on the postulate that the motion of one body can be defined only with respect to that of a second body.Mass, space and time are interdependent. This theory led to the concept of a four-dimensional space-time continuum in which the…
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Full text Article RELATIVITY

From The Edinburgh Dictionary of Modernism
‘Everybody catches fire at the word Relativity’, D. H. Lawrence suggested in 1923. ‘There must be something in the mere suggestion that we've been waiting for.’ Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (1905) had asserted that all spatial or temporal judgements were relative and dependent on…
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Full text Article RELATIVITY

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
American author and biochemist No physicist who is even marginally sane doubts the validity of special relativity. In Ferris, Timothy (ed.) The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics The Two Masses (p. 186 ) Little Brown & Company. Boston Massachusetts USA . 1991. Special…
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Full text Article relativity

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
physical theory, introduced by Albert Einstein, that discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference. One consequence of the theory is that space and time are no longer viewed as separate, independent entities but rather are…
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Full text Article relativity

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Concept in physics that measurements change when considered by observers in various states of motion. In classical physics, it was assumed that all observers anywhere in the universe would obtain identical measurements of space and time intervals. According to relativity theory, this is not so; all…
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From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
a term applied to Einstein's theories of electrodynamics (special relativity, 1905) and gravitation (general relativity, 1916) because both hold that certain physical quantities, formerly considered objective, are actually “relative to” the state of motion of the observer. They are called “special” …
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Full text Article relativity

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
A theory concerning time, space, and the motion of objects, proposed first in 1905 by Albert Einstein in his special theory of relativity. The “special theory of relativity” is based on the principle of special relativity, which states that all observers moving at constant velocities with respect to…
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From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary
pronunciation (ca. 1834) 1 a :  the quality or state of being relative b :  something that is relative 2 :  the state of being dependent for existence on or determined in nature, value, or quality by relation to something else 3 a :  a theory which is based on the two postulates (1) that the speed…
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Full text Article relativity

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
In physics, theory of the relative rather than absolute character of mass, time, and space, and their interdependence, as developed by German-born US physicist Albert Einstein in two phases: Special theory of relativity (1905) Starting with the premises that (1) the laws of nature are the same for…
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