Special relativity (alternative formulations)
Hendrik Lorentz and Henri Poincaré developed their version of special relativity in a series of papers from about 1900 to 1905. They used Maxwell's equations and the principle of relativity to deduce a theory that is mathematically equivalent to the theory later developed by Einstein.
History of special relativity
On September 26, 1905 (received June 30), Albert Einstein published his annus mirabilis paper on what is now called "special relativity". Einstein's paper includes a fundamental new definition of space and time (all time and space coordinates in all reference frames are on an equal footing, so there is no physical basis for distinguishing "true" from "apparent" time) and makes the aether an unnecessary concept, at least in regard to inertial motion. Einstein identified two fundamental principles, the principle of relativity and the "principle of the constancy of light" ("light principle"), which served as the axiomatic basis of his theory. To better understand Einstein's step, a summary of the situation before 1905, as it was described above, shall be given (it must be remarked that Einstein was familiar with the 1895 theory of Lorentz, and "Science and Hypothesis" by Poincaré, but not their papers of 1904-1905):