before albert einstein, scientists were trying to measure the "relative speed" of light. they were doing this by measuring the speed of star light reaching the earth. they expected that if the earth was moving toward a star, the light from that star should seem faster than if the earth was moving away from that star. however, they noticed that no matter who performed the experiments, where the experiments were performed, or what star light was used, the measured speed of light in a vacuum was always the same.