In 1905 Albert Einstein, a 26-year-old patent clerk, developed a new theory of time. The theory was revolutionary, creating a single framework for understanding time as connected to the other laws of physics. Einstein’s believed in the existence of a Theory of Everything (TOE) that unifies all aspects of physics into one coherent idea. He studied time to creep closer this unifying theory. The theory of time he proposed in 1905 contained two postulates: 1) that the laws of physics take the same form in all inertial frames of reference; and 2) that the speed of light has the same value in a vacuum in inertial frames of reference (Einstein, Albers. “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.” Annalin Der Physik, vol. 17, 1905, pp. 891-921). Before Einstein’s 1905 theory of special relativity, Newtonian physics, grounded in the laws of motion, couldn’t explain light, which didn’t behave according to the other laws of physics.

Einstein’s first postulate is extremely abstract in its foundation. Imagine a man sitting stationary on a moving train and a man standing stationary on a platform at a train station. Einstein’s underlying premise is that it’s impossible to tell which is moving, the inert man on the train or the inert man on the platform.