1. Landau and Lifshitz, Classical Field Theory. Chapter One, The Principle of Relativity. In a separate document I have explained that section one of L&L’s text involves more than just the principle of relativity, but also the assumption that there exists a finitely- valued maximal velocity of signal propagation, denoted by c, and that the value of c is independent of the relative velocities between different inertial frames of reference. In fact, the authors were describing in § 1 more than just the basic principle of relativity, that physical laws are the same in all inertial frames of reference, but also trying to give a justification for, without coming right out and saying it, all of the assumptions inherent in Einstein’s statement of Special Relativity. This statement consists of three basic parts, the first part being that the principle of relativity holds. The second part of this statement is what L&L refer to as Einstein’s Principle of Relativity, that information cannot be propagated with infinite speed. Neither of these two parts requires particularly great insight to obtain them, as I tried to suggest these two statements are simply logical conclusions based on how we are to view, interpret, and describe our universe. The same can be said concerning Newton’s Three Laws, that the first two laws really don’t say very much, they just give names for things we seem to observe around us. It has often been stated that “all of classical physics comes from Newton’s third law”, the one stating that the force exerted by one body on another is equal and opposite to the force exerted by the second body on the first. Thus, we come to the third part of Einstein’s statement of Special Relativity, that not only is the maximal speed of information propagation the same in all frames of reference, but that this speed is actually the speed of light itself. That is, out of all the ways to explain how Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell’s equations can co-exist, making sense in a mutually consistent way, the simplest explanation is to assume the maximal speed of information propagation is actually the speed of light, a constant that also seems to magically appear in the midst of Maxwell’s equations when considering the units of electric and magnetic field intensities. Einstein firmly believed that no physical theory could be presented as valid unless there existed experimental verification, or at least a way to prepare an experiment in order to test the theory. It would not be difficult to invent a theory in which signals could be propagated at a speed faster than that of light, and if any experimental observation could be explained by such a theory then so much the better. But no such experimental observation exists, in fact all observation indicates that indeed there isn’t anything that can move at a speed faster than that of light. If this makes the speed of light hold some kind of special meaning, then there must be some kind of experimental observation which justifies its special place in the universe. Lo and behold, between 1880 and 1900 there were many justifications of Maxwell’s equations, verifying that this constant speed of light does indeed seem to hold some special status in the universe. All Einstein was doing in finalizing his 1905 statement was to use Occam’s Razor, i.e. come up with the simplest explanation possible for everything that has been observed. Sections 2-5 of L&L’s text are presented next.