Primary Sources

Einstein, Albert. "Field Equations of Gravitation." The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, translated by Alfred Engel, compiled by Alfred Engel, vols. 6, The Berlin Years: Writings, 1914-1917., Princeton UP, pp. 117-20. Einstein Papers, einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol6-trans/129. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

The primary paper by Einstein, just translated into English so I can actually use it. The exact mathematical way if which he first described general relativity, but not very prettily. Was later superseded with the equation we know and love today, but showed the progression from ugly potential to 'most beautiful equation.'

---. "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies." The Principle of Relativity: Original Papers by A. Einstein and H. Minkowski, compiled by Meghnad Saha, U of Calcutta, 1905, pp. 1-34.

As the book is a compilation and translation of Einstein and others' documents, the accuracy of the information is practically Einstein's. Since it came from Einstein and that the paper was about the theory of special relativity from the approach of electromagnetism, this is one of the most ground-breaking papers of the 20th century. It covers all of the theory of special relativity, as this was the first paper to be published and was a brand new theory of the time.

---. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. 1916. Translated by Robert William Lawson, New York, H. Holt and company, 1920.

Since this book was the product of the man credited with the majority of Special and General Relativity, the importance of this source cannot be understated. In this book are the original concepts behind the theory, as well as the math that follows suit. It goes in depth to how he formulated the theories and as a general overview of what he did the previous 10 years or so regarding relativity. In Part III, Einstein also expressed how he thinks the universe is regarding Newton's interpretation and how space may be infinite.

Lorentz, Hendrik. "Deux Mémoires de Henri Poincaré sur la Physique Mathématique" ["Two Papers of Henri Poincaré on Mathematical Physics"]. Acta Mathematica, vol. N/A, no. 38, 1921, pp. 293-308.

Though the paper was more about a physicist talking about one of his peers in high regard, there are also allusions to Special Relativity within the paper. He talks about Poincaré's contributions to theoretical physics, and one of those physics is Special Relativity and the "lorentz" transformation. Lorentz believe that though the transformation is named after him, there were others before him who've discovered the same concept.

Maxwell, James Clerk. "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field." Published Paper, 8 Dec. 1864.

​All chapters are important and very insightful to the theory of electromagnetism. All but chapter 6 are rarely used in the paper, but are still key components. Chapter 6, however, provided me the original equations explaining electromagnetism and how it works under the lens of math regarding the theory that light is truly just an electromagnetic wave.

Michelson, Albert Abraham. "The Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether." American Journal of Science, 3rd ser., vol. XXL, no. Null, 22 Nov. 1881, pp. 120-29.

The paper written above was the result of lots of history fighting over the existence of ether. It turned out to be very useful to know how the experiment was first hypothesized and what he hoped to achieve with such an experiment. Provided historical and scientific evidence for the history of ether and the plausibility of these theoretical claims. Gave a theoretical explanation of how an experiment could be done to provide an answer to the existence of ether. The result for him was null, but that was only the first test of a very imperfect experiment. Further experimentation needed.

Michelson, Albert Abraham, and Edward Morley. "On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether." American Journal of Science, 3rd ser., vol. XXXIV, no. 203, 22 Nov. 1887, pp. 333-45.

Very similar to the original paper by Michelson in 1881, the paper was written as a result of a new ​partner and a very similar experiment. The paper goes in depth into how the experimentation was done and the conclusions drawn from the data obtained. This experiment concluded as a result of a null, and so the hypothesis was deemed unneeded for light to travel through. The speed of light was unchanged, giving more evidence to the claims of James Maxwell and this proposition of the speed of light being constant as a result of light being an electromagnetic wave.

Newton, Isaac. Newton's Principia: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. 1687. Translated by Andrew Motte, 1st American ed., 45 Liberty Street, New York, Daniel Adee, 1846.

Provided the best source of the mathematical expression of Newton in 1687 and his theories of natural philosophy. (classical physics) All laws of motion and his descriptions of gravity went into thorough description, but likely some of the language behind it likely got lost in translation. This book is probably the foundation of all classical mechanics described in my paper, and so is highly ranked according to me. Overall, the paper was spectacular and did a very good job describing the physics understood back in the 17th century.

"Science." Event Horizon Telescope, 2017, eventhorizontelescope.org/science. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

Gave me a full description on how the telescopes were arranged and how the imaging was achieved data-wise. The data was then put through a program using Bayesian analysis and made the picture of the black hole. It provided a history of the program and how they used differing techniques to perfect their overall goal. The day of which the picture was taken was given on the page, since this is the official pace of the Event Horizon Telescope and their crew.

​"2017 Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded to LIGO Founders." Caltech.edu, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, 2017, www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/press-release-2017-nobel-prize? highlight=gravitational%20waves. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

​The source has all the information regarding the authors and experimenters, as well timeline of events during and after the discovery made by LIGO. Gave a history of their mission to find gravitational waves, starting as far back as Einstein. The website is the official website for all of LIGO's affairs, and so has the most accurate dates and data collected, as they are the ones who did the experimentation.

Secondary Sources

Acosta, Darin. "Relativity 1" ["Relativity 1"]. University of Florida, U. Florida, 17 Aug. 2004, www.phys.ufl.edu/~acosta/phy2061/lectures/Relativity1.pdf. Accessed 17 Aug. 2004.

The pdf was written by a professor as to be lecture notes, providing an adequate summary of an introduction to relativity. Gave a good bit of history on how relativity was first formed by Newton and Galileo. Also explained the synthesis of the Lorentz transformation and the math behind the Michelson-Morley experiment. The graphics in this pdf also add to the experience, as the pictures are very good at giving a physical representation of the lecture topics.

Branson, Jim. "Special Relativity." University of California San Diego, U of California San Diego, 21 Oct. 2012, hepweb.ucsd.edu/ph110b/110b_notes/node38.html.

The main page contains a table of contents to a large majority of the history and effects of Special Relativity, making it a great website to learn relativity. It talks about the how/why space is the way it is, the concepts of 3-vectors and 4-vectors, and many visual interpretations to allow for visual learners to also understand. I only went surface level with the information on these pages, but if you would like a more in-depth understanding, this is the website I would recommend.

Implications from His Paper on the Theory of Special Relativity. University of Windsor, U of Windsor, 2005, web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/physics/high_schools/2005/Special_relativity/hello.html. Accessed 2019. The author, the date of publish, and the date of creation were all missing.

In 2005, it was published, and so most of the sources, with a few exceptions, are not obsolete. A few of the sources also went to unrelated pages, and so all information found was taken with a grain of salt. All data on this website was cross-verified and it all seems to be accurate information. The best part of this website was an interactive experiment on how the Michelson-Morley experiment should turn out if there was ether wind, providing a very intuitive understanding of that those gentlemen were looking for in their experiment.

"The Man Who Corrected Einstein." YouTube, uploaded by Minutephysics, Google, 15 Oct. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va5T2KcYiOw. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

Not only did the video contain many sources to back up the claim, but also told a good story correctly. The video contained some of Einstein's solutions to general relativity, and was one of the foundations for the structure of which I wrote the general relativity section of my essay. It also went over how Einstein was not a perfect person and had his own biases and he could make mathematical mistakes like the rest of us.

Norton, John D. "Origins of Special Relativity." University of Pittsburgh, U of Pittsburgh, Jan. 2001, www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/HPS_0410/chapters/origins/index.html. Accessed 28 Jan. 2013.

Gave a great detailed description of the history of Special Relativity. Expressed history that was normally hidden, such as the LET being an equivalent of Special Relativity, just much more complicated. Explained where lots of the bases of relativity were formed and how those influences eventually led Einstein to create his theory of Special Relativity. Optics was also a large part of the history, as light and optics was a main component in the postulates behind Special Relativity. Overall, a good summary of the history of the theory of relativity as a whole, starting from the first concepts.

"The Speed of Light is NOT About Light." YouTube, uploaded by PBS Spacetime, Google, 7 Oct. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=msVuCEs8Ydo. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

The video had a portion talking about the history or relativity, and went over how they got to the point of relativity like in my paper. They also covered the Lorentz transform and they have other videos on their channel that helped me understand it intuitively. The direction of the video actually steers more towards the notion that light-speed is more a definition of the speed of causality, rather than the other way around, and so diverts about 2/3 the way through from the direct topic of my paper.

Takeuchi, Tatsu. "Special Relativity : Section #." Virginia Tech, www1.phys.vt.edu/~takeuchi/relativity/notes/section01.html. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

These lecture notes were one of the reasons I continued this project. They cover almost every concept from special relativity in a way very easily understood by my peers. It also allowed me to make a good list of the effects that relativity had on the universe and on the intuition of physicists.

"Universe Geometry." University of Oregon, U Oregon, abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/cosmo/lectures/lec15.html. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

Used their image of space-time curvature to provide a visual representation of the nonsense I was spilling on the paper! :P

Tertiary Sources

"Einstein's Field Equations of General Relativity Explained." YouTube, uploaded by Physics Videos by Eugene Khutoryansky, Google, 12 Aug. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfThVvBWZxM. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

Went in-depth into how the curvature of space can be explained with tensor algebra and calculus. The voice was a bit annoying to listen to and the music in the background was unnecessary, but the information provided completely outweighed it. The video explained a lot about the topology of space and how changing the space around objects change how other objects behave.

Howell, Elizabeth. "Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity." Space.com, Future US, 30 Mar. 2017, www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.html. Accessed 30 Mar. 2017.

An extremely simplified view over the history of Special Relativity. The source was used only for a general description of the history and how to write for the common reader, not as a foundation for any information. The history does only go over Einstein, however, making it look as if he was really the only one involved. The author is a M.Sc.in Space studies, but is pursuing an Aerospace Ph.D, which is a consideration as none of those directly involve relativity itself, but rather portions of the whole, and hence my reluctance to consider the information to be of value.