Riding on a Light Beam: Visualizing Relativity

by Lewis F. McIntyre

Riding on a Light Beam presents a new method for understanding the Special Theory of Relativity, by analyzing how one must locate a moving object in time and space by separating the event, the observation, and the measurement. The book demonstrates conclusively that it is relativistic Doppler which advances or retards the observer’s measurement, rather than some undefined and unobservable effect on the event’s space and time due to velocity. Along with this major new insight, Riding on a Light Beam provides a polar plot for graphical solution of problems in Special Relativity that not only allows complex problems to be visualized, but also solved without computation. These problems include not only the Lorentz Transform but also mass, momentum, energy, and kinematics. The book develops a wholly new analysis of bodies undergoing constant acceleration using simple graphics and trigonometry, a problem formerly solvable only by tensors. This book is a “must read” for anyone wanting to truly comprehend Einstein’s Special Theory, which, as that great genius said, “was only geometry.”

139 pages, Paperback

Published June 9, 2023

About the author

Lew McIntyre is one of Southern Maryland’s newest authors, specializing for now in historical fiction, having published five books. Three are historical fiction: "The Eagle and the Dragon, a Novel of Rome and China" with its sequel, "A Gathering of Eagles, A Novel of Rome and Parthia" and, and "Come, Follow Me, a Story of Pilate and Jesus." The other two are non-fiction: "Take Charge and Move Out, the Founding Fathers of TACAMO" and "Riding on a Light Beam, Visualizing Relativity." He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy Class of 1970, with a BS and MS in aeronautical engineering. He spent his naval career in aviation, flying strategic communications missions in TACAMO and other aircraft. He retired as a Commander in 1970 to begin his second career supporting TACAMO E-6B Mercury aircraft at Patuxent River, MD as a senior communications systems engineer with SAIC. He retired to full time writing in 2020. He lives in La Plata with his wife Karen, who doubles as his editor, literary critic and inspiration. They have two children, Jesse, married to Nicole, parents of their grandson “Bean” Benedict, and Katy, married to Tim Bristow, with granddogs Penny and Bita, living in the UK. Besides writing and working at Patuxent River, Lewis enjoys biking, running, hunting and amateur radio.