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Hermann Minkowski
Hermann Minkowski's place in the history of relativity is assured by the fact that, in 1908, he orignated the concept of spacetime, although the term "spacetime" was not coined until later.
Minkowski referred to it as the "postulate of the absolute world". Any point in space and time is a "world point" and the motion of any object could be described as a "world line" in four dimensional spacetime.
Minkowski showed that the Lorentz transformation, whereby physical distances are contracted as a result of relative motion, is a direct result of the geometry of spacetime.
Spacetime Diagrams
Minkowski originated the terms "front cone" and "back cone" for the areas on a spacetime diagram.
For example, if we assume that A is an event in spacetime. Time is shown as the vertical (z) axis. space is represented by the horizontal (x and y) axes.
The front cone (on top) represents future events that can be causally related to event A. So event B, which is inside the front cone, could be caused by event A. Their relationship is said to be "timelike".
But event C, which is outside the front cone, could not be caused by event A. Neither could it have caused event A, as it is outside the back cone. This relationship is said to be "spacelike".
Further information on light cones may be found here.
Further information on Minkowski's life and works may be found here.
