Analysis of the Development of Relativity

The advent of relativity theory, initiated by Albert Einstein in the early 1900s, ushered in the era of modern physics by reshaping fundamental concepts of space, time, and gravity. This framework emerged in response to the shortcomings of Newtonian mechanics, particularly its failure to account for the invariance of the speed of light and anomalies in Mercurys orbital path. The paper, through a method of literature review, analyzes and summarizes the historical development and core concepts of both special and general relativity. It explores key background events, major breakthroughs, and their lasting influence on modern science. The paper concludes that the two main contributions of relativity are the famous equations: the mass-equivalence equation in special relativity and the Einstein field equations in general relativity, both of which continue to shape physics today.