Let me turn now to the treatment of distant simultaneity (i.e., simultaneity of two events
occurring at different places) in SR. As this plays a major role in Jammer’s book, it will be
useful to give a brief review of the subject. In his first paper on relativity,Einstein (1905)
discussed the question of synchronizing two identical clocks that are at rest at different
locations, referred to as AandB, in an inertial (i.e., unaccelerated) frame of reference.
He considered a ray of light that travels fromAtoB, where it is immediately reflected back
toA.
1
The question is which instant atAin the interval between the departure and return
of the light ray is simultaneous with the ray’s arrival atB.