In physics, the Lorentz transformation (or transformations) is named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz. It was the result of attempts by Lorentz and others to explain how the speed of light was observed to be independent of the reference frame, and to understand the symmetries of the laws of electromagnetism. The Lorentz transformation is in accordance with special relativity, but was derived before special relativity.
The transformations describe how measurements of space and time by two observers are related. They reflect the fact that observers moving at different velocities may measure different distances, elapsed times, and even different orderings of events. They supersede the Galilean transformation of Newtonian physics, which assumes an absolute space and time (see Galilean relativity).
The Galilean transformation is a good approximation only at relative speeds much smaller than the speed of light.
The Lorentz transformation is a linear transformation. It may include a rotation of space; a rotation-free Lorentz transformation is called a Lorentz boost.
In Minkowski space, the Lorentz transformations preserve the spacetime interval between any two events. They describe only the transformations in which the spacetime event at the origin is left fixed, so they can be considered as a hyperbolic rotation of Minkowski space. The more general set of transformations that also includes translations is known as the Poincaré group.
