Photo Tom Treuter Wai-Mo Suen, professor of physics, Washington University.
In 1905 Albert Einstein wrote a paper that is today called the special theory of relativity. He based his new theory on a reinterpretation of the classical principle of relativity, namely that the laws of physics had to have the same form in any frame of reference.	Visualization Werner Benger, Zuse Institute Berlin and Albert Einstein Institute Two neutron stars merge on the way to forming a black hole.
Visualization Werner Benger, Zuse Institute Berlin and Albert Einstein Institute Image in a numerical simulation showing two neutron stars colliding head-on. Rings of gas heated by the shock wave are spilling out from the collision center. The color represents the internal energy (temperature) of the gas (white is hottest). The merging neutron stars collapse into a black hole promptly because of the huge amount of compression in the process. The gridded mesh locates the position of a horizon of the newly formed black hole, from which nothing, not even light, can escape.	Photo Tom Treuter Ed Seidel of Max Planck and University of Illinois explains how violent events such as neutron star coalescence can't be studied unless relativity is taken into account.