Early Thoughts on Einstein's Relativity Theory

In an effort to understand Einstein's relativity theory, I am making the effort to understand what exactly Einstein proposed in his own words. Einstein's publication, Relativity" The Special and General Theory, is meant for as Einstein stated, "those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus". I figure this is a good way to learn the theory.

Slowing I am making my way through Einstein's relativity. Thus far, I can understand why people like Stark would have viewed relativity in a negative light. Physics until Einstein's relativity theory was based on absolute truths. Something was either right or wrong. Everything could be quantifiable. If it could not be quantifiable it was not science (I may be generalizing here). Einstein's relativity certainly called into question this view of science.

Reactions by physicists who opposed relativity are understandable. Although only about one third of the way through the book, I fail to understand where relativity and science meet. To me relativity sounds more like a philosophy other than a branch of science. Some points I can understand in Einstein's argument. For instance, the only way to determine if something is simultaneous is to observe it. I cannot understand thus far how relativity fits into a scientific context. Einstein talks about the relativity of the conception of distance. Basically, you can stand in a train and measure the length of the train and get a fairly accurate measurement of the train's length. Yet, according to Einstein if you observe the train from the embankment, you will get a totally different measurement due to differing velocities and points of view. I don't think I fully understand everything here, but the main point I want to make is this, in a scientific setting most experiments are controlled, so the absolute length and size of particles/materials in the experiment should be known. There is no need to have to apply Einstein's relativity to understand the size of whatever is being used in the experiment.

After saying all that, maybe Einstein's whole point of the relativity theory was that particles of atoms are so small that the traditional means of observation and measurement are not sufficient and physicists need to employ the relativity principles to accurately access the world of subatomic particles. Which, if true, means the entire foundation of subatomic physics at the time would be totally of base. Hopefully as I review some of the concepts and read further some of this will clear itself up.