LAUSR

Abstract This article reviews the process by which Einstein founded the theory of relativity, considers Einstein's perspective on physics and examines the relationship between our new perspective and Einstein's perspective. The basic concepts involved in our new perspective are given, including trajectory coordinates, reference space-time and the refractive index. These concepts form the basis of subsequent articles. As a part of putting forward these basic concepts, a simple and intuitive explanation of the relativistic effect is given and a new form of the space-time metric is given by using a refractive index. This new form of space-time metric enables us to explain the difference and connection between special relativity and general relativity and provides a straightforward way of describing the equivalence principle.