6
Special Relativity
There Was a Young Lady Named Bright
Whose Speed Was Far Faster Than Light.
She Set Out One day
In a Relative Way
And Returned on the Previous Night.
— A. H. Reginald Buller [1]
6.1 A Vietnamese Fairy Tale: The Land of Bliss
Over five centuries ago, a young mandarin, named Tu Thuc, was
chief of the Tien Du district in what is now Vietnam. He was
a devoted scholar and possessed many books on all subjects,
except for any on the Land of Bliss, which is known to be a fairy
place and a land of eternal youth and pleasure.
Once when travelling during the Flower Festival, Tu Thuc
came across a disturbance near an ancient pagoda covered in
beautiful blossoms. A young maiden of startling beauty had just
grasped a branch to better admire a sacred moon flower, when
the branch had broken off in her hand. The priests arrested
her and imposed a heavy fine, which she was unable to pay.
Although Tu Thuc had insufficient money with him to cover the
fine, he offered the priests his expensive brocaded coat, which
© The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto, Don’t Be Afraid of Physics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63409-4_6
101
Special Relativity
There Was a Young Lady Named Bright
Whose Speed Was Far Faster Than Light.
She Set Out One day
In a Relative Way
And Returned on the Previous Night.
— A. H. Reginald Buller [1]
6.1 A Vietnamese Fairy Tale: The Land of Bliss
Over five centuries ago, a young mandarin, named Tu Thuc, was
chief of the Tien Du district in what is now Vietnam. He was
a devoted scholar and possessed many books on all subjects,
except for any on the Land of Bliss, which is known to be a fairy
place and a land of eternal youth and pleasure.
Once when travelling during the Flower Festival, Tu Thuc
came across a disturbance near an ancient pagoda covered in
beautiful blossoms. A young maiden of startling beauty had just
grasped a branch to better admire a sacred moon flower, when
the branch had broken off in her hand. The priests arrested
her and imposed a heavy fine, which she was unable to pay.
Although Tu Thuc had insufficient money with him to cover the
fine, he offered the priests his expensive brocaded coat, which
© The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto, Don’t Be Afraid of Physics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63409-4_6
101