In 1905 Einstein introduced his Special Theory of Relativity (STR). The rumours I heard when I was about 16 years old were that only he and a few other extremely intelligent scientists would be able to understand this theory. A turning point in the history of physics, not only because of this supposed sublime theory, but even more because of the abandonment of the phenomenon ‘ether’. Until that turning point in history no physicist ever thought about the possibility that this phenomenon w...

Changes and additions to the new edition of this classic textbook include a new chapter on symmetries, new problems and examples, improved explanations, more numerical problems to be worked on a computer, new applications to solid state physics, and consolidated treatment of time-dependent potentials.