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At the age of 16, Einstein hit on a paradox that contained the germ of the theory of relativity. He argued that an observer moving so as to keep abreast of a light wave should see it as at rest, but that there seems to be no such electromagnetic field. The paradox is usually resolved by saying that, according to the special theory of relativity, no observer can move fast enough to keep up with light. However, the situation is more subtle. One can easily show that the paradox arises essentially from applying a Galilean transformation to the light waves but a relativistic one to the Maxwell equations. But a close examination of the transformational situation reveals surprising aspects that seem not to have been pointed out before and that transfer the locale of the paradox from logic to intuition. |
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