Originally Posted By: preearth

Jules Henri Poincaré,[7] Paul Drude,[8] Paul Langevin,[9] and many others, slowly developed the theory, step by step, and based it on thousands of years of recorded thought and research.


Sure. That's how science works, standing on the shoulders of giants and all that. I think Einstein himself said SR was 'ripe for discovery'. He just happened to connect the dots into a consistent picture slightly before anyone else.