Exploring Time, Light, and Clock Synchronization

The mass of the Earth affects the passage of time, a concept understood by Einstein in 1905. Despite not being a university professor, Einstein worked at a patent office in Switzerland, tasked with synchronizing clocks due to the rise of the railway system. Villages in Europe used to set time based on the sun, creating different time zones. Einstein pondered how to synchronize the clocks of train stations and realized that light, while fast, still takes time to travel. This understanding led him to the astonishing conclusion that synchronizing clocks perfectly was impossible.