The common misconception is that Einstein simply stole Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction and rewrote it into his own theory of special relativity. But that's not true. LFC was postulated after Michelson-Morley failed to find any difference in light speed to account for Earth's motion through a stationary ether. This older theory differed from relativity in that it adhered to the concept of a stationary ether. It had that light speed was not constant relative to a moving observer. It explained the experimentally verified constant speed of light as a measurement error in the apparatus caused by a contraction of its own length in its direction of motion relative to the universal ether. Special Relativity broke from this by assuming light speed is constant as measured. Then relative motion results in time dialation. Length contraction still occurs, but it is relative to the observer rather than universal like in LFC. Relative length contraction doesn't work without time dialation. Time was the key ingredient missing in previous theories. This was Einstein's contribution: time. So if not Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction, what did Einstein steal?