Maxwell's equations

The name is familiar.

Maxwell's equations?

Yes.

Without Maxwell's equations, you and I would not be having this conversation, and none of your listeners out in radio land would be listening to us tonight.

Maxwell's equations describe the electromagnetic phenomenon of radio, as well as light, as well as ultraviolet, infrared, x-rays, the whole spectrum whereby you and I are having this conversation for your audience this evening.

What you do not know, and what many people do not know, is that Maxwell, 100 years ago, originally wrote his 200-plus equations completely describing electromagnetic theory in four-space terms, in higher-dimensional terms.

They were later simplified, I love that phrase, by a guy named Oliver Heaviside, another physicist, about 20 years later.

once,

Okay.

But the truly shocking part of Maxwell's equations was that they predicted a specific fixed speed for these waves, approximately 300,000 kilometers per second.

Which is fast, obviously.

Very fast, but the problem was Maxwell's math didn't say what that speed was relative to, and in Newton's world, a speed only makes sense relative to something else.

Always.

Which brings us to 1905 and Einstein's theory of special relativity.

Einstein looks at the Michelson-Morley experiment, he looks at Maxwell's equations, and he decides to just take a sledgehammer to Newton's grand theater.

Just smashes it.