The
German-born physicist Albert Einstein, provided a remarkable new
picture of the universe. His Special Theory of Relativity, published
in 1905, challenged the views of time and space accepted since
Newton's day.
For over two centuries scientists had unquestionably believed
that the basic quantities of measurement -- mass, length, and
time -- were absolute and unvarying. Einstein showed that in fact
they depended very much on the relative motion between the observer
and whatever was being observed.
The Relativity Theory showed that mass could be converted directly
into energy, and that a minute piece of mass could release a vast
amount of energy.
