Part 3/11:
Galileo’s initial insights laid the groundwork for Newtonian mechanics, but they were not without flaws. Galilean relativity faltered when it encountered the principles of electromagnetism that Maxwell outlined in the mid-1800s. Einstein's brilliance lay in recognizing the inconsistencies of these traditional views and proposing special relativity, which prioritizes the constancy of the speed of light across all non-accelerating observers.
When it comes to transforming frames of reference, Galilean transformations could suggest velocities exceeding light’s speed. Einstein introduced the Lorentz transformation as a remedy, which maintains light’s speed invariant while accommodating all observers—a principle known as Lorentz symmetry.