Maxwell's equations

← Previous Next →

comments powered by Disqus
Lecture overview

After a brief review of gauge invariance, Professor Susskind describes the introductory paragraph of Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," and derives the results of the paragraph in terms of the relativistic transformation of the electromagnetic field tensor. This paragraph asks the fundamental question "what is the difference between a charge moving in a magnetic field, and a fixed charge in a changing magnetic field." The answer to this fundamental question must be "nothing" if the principle of relativity is true. This conclusion is what led Einstein to develop the special theory of relativity.