Engineering Physics Annotation << Back PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY AND THE «HIDDEN» SYMMETRY OF MATTER MOTION V.G. ZHOTIKOV More than 100 years have passed since the appearance of the relativity theory (RT) on the «physical sky». It is hardly necessary to doubt that RT has contributed signifi cant progress in understanding the nature of space and time. It seems appropriate to bring at least some preliminary results of its impact on modern physical picture of the world. How the dreams and desires of the classics of relativism of the fi rst decade of the last century correspond to the current state of affairs in this area? What was confi rmed from the predicted by them, and what should be send to the «baggage» of the history of physical science? Over the past period, physical science has accumulated a suffi cient number of questions to the grounds (postulates) of RT. In this paper, we give a brief analysis of the current state of affairs in this area. The focus is on the following: Why Einstein was unable to bring the idea of the complete relativity (i.e. the independence of the laws of nature from the state of motion of observers) to its logical conclusion? Key words: principle of relativity, gauge transformation, conservation laws. Contacts: E-mail: zhotikov@endex.ru Pp. 23-31.