The Resolution of the Clock Paradox

Abstract

In a recent paper (Builder 1957) Dr. G. Builder discusses the well-known "clock paradox" on the basis of the restricted theory of relativity. The problem considered, to quote his own description, arises from the following hypothetical experiment: "It is supposed that two observers R and M, equipped with identical synchronized clocks, are initially at rest together, e.g. at the origin of an inertial reference system S. The observer M is sent on a journey along the x-axis of S, travelling away from R with uniform speed v for a time T, coming to rest for a time t, and then returning with the same speed v to rejoin R after a total time 2T + t as read on R's clock. It will, in the first instance, be supposed that the times required to accelerate, or decelerate, M are so small that they can be neglected without appreciable error."