I hope it will not shock experimental physicists too much if I say that we do not accept their observations unless they are confirmed by theory. - Arthur Eddington

The speed of 299,796 kilometres a second, which occupies a unique position in every measure-system, is commonly referred to as the speed of light. But it is much more than that; it is the speed at which the mass of matter becomes infinite, lengths contract to zero, clocks stand still.

We have found a strange foot-print on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! It is our own.

There was just one alternative, the earth’s true velocity through space might happen to have been nil.