Evaluate Einstein's contribution to the development of special relativity and the evidence confirming or denying the postulate that the speed of light...

Its
something of a misnomer to state that Einstein contributed to the theory of General and
Special Relativity, when he was, in fact, its creator and main champion for many years. Working
as a Swiss Patent clerk and tutoring in Physics during his off-hours, Einstein penned several
memorable theses that he compiled into one booka compilation of five pieces put together in
1905, which would lay the foundation for his theory of relativity. Famous for his mental
exercises he called Gedanchen or thought experiments, he pondered the question of what light
would look like if an observer was traveling at or near the speed of light. Because the initial
equations that dictated the travel of electromagnetic radiation, and therefore identified the
speed of light, were independent of observers, his conclusion was that light would look the same
to all observers, regardless of speed, and therefore time and space must expand or contract to
ensure that, relative to their speed, light remained constant.

He wrote all
of this down and challenged the scientific community, who widely panned the theory for the
longest time. Eventually, however, through his persistence, he was proved correct through
astronomical measurements. His efforts drastically impacted the field of physics as a whole, has
led to groundbreaking new revelations about the nature of space and time, and has educated
humans on the motion of planets and galaxies and also the nature of black
holes.