| Shortly
after the publication of the special theory of relativity (1905),
the mathematician Hermann Minkowski suggested a new way of thinking
about space and time that took into account the lack of absolute
distinctions that Einstein’s work had revealed. Minkowski’s
idea makes use of the concept of space-time, which represents
a sort of ‘fusion’ or ‘union’ of space and time in that it consists
of all the positions and times at which events might occur.
Space-time, unlike space and time, was common to both observers,
even if they described it differently. Hence the new fangled
space-time was more fundamental than the older notion of an
absolutely separate and distinct space and time. |
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