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The visual appearance of objects moving at relativistic speeds is a fascinating subject. Victor Weisskopf (MIT) has a beautiful paper where the subject is discussed with great clarity, published in Physics Today in 1960. At my request the Physics Today staff has kindly scanned the original article: On the Visual Appearance of Rapidly Moving Bodies. Another article on the visual appearance of rapidly moving objects, based on Weisskopf's paper and at the right level for 8.20, is Appearances at Relativistic Speeds.

In addition, two of the world's experts in visualization of physics and mathematics have put together a website with fascinating visual special relativistic effects.

The American Museum of Natural History is running major exhibit on Einstein. Their website has a wealth of biographical information for anyone who would like to know more about the man, his philosophy and his influence on 20th century culture and politics.

The effect of Special and General Relativity on our Global Positioning System is nicely covered in the May 2002 issue of Physics Today, although you may have difficultly accessing this link if you are not a Physics Today subscriber. A similar article is available here.

Einstein's 1905 paper introducing special relativity is, historically speaking, the world's introduction to Special Relativity. Another 1905 paper, examining the photoelectric effect, earned him the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.

George Gamow's Mr. Tompkins in Paperback is a thin and highly entertaining book exploring worlds in which the velocity of light is not so very large, and in which Planck's constant is not so very small. Well worth $15 at amazon.com.