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l. To be precise, what we usually call the "speed of light" is really the speed of light in a vacuum (the absence of matter). In reality, the speed of light depends on the material that light moves through. Thus, for example, light moves slower in glass than in air, and in both cases the speed is less than in a vacuum. However, the density of matter between the stars is sufficiently low that the actual speed of light through most of interstellar space is essentially the speed it would have through a vacuum.

2. The special theory of relativity assumes the existence of a unique class of global coordinate systems - called inertial coordinates - with respect to which the speed of light in vacuum is everywhere equal to the constant c. It was natural, then, to express physical laws in terms of this preferred class of coordinate systems, characterized by the global invariance of the speed of light. In addition, the special theory also strongly implied the fundamental equivalence of mass and energy, according to which light (and every other form of energy) must be regarded as possessing inertia. However, it soon became clear that the global invariance of light speed together with the idea that energy has inertia (as expressed in the famous relation E2 = m2 + |p|2) were incompatible with one of the most firmly established empirical results of physics, namely, the exact proportionality of inertial and gravitational mass, which Einstein elevated to the status of a Principle.

This incompatibility led Einstein, as early as 1907, to the belief that the global invariance of light speed, in the sense of the special theory, could not be maintained. Indeed, he concluded that we cannot assume, as do both Newtonian theory and special relativity, the existence of any global inertial systems of coordinates (although we can carry over the existence of a local system of inertial coordinates in a vanishingly small region of spacetime around any event).

l. To be precise, what we usually call the "speed of light" is really the speed of light in a vacuum (the absence of matter). In reality, the speed of light depends on the material that light moves through. Thus, for example, light moves slower in glass than in air, and in both cases the speed is less than in a vacuum. However, the density of matter between the stars is sufficiently low that the actual speed of light through most of interstellar space is essentially the speed it would have through a vacuum.

I am very much aware of this. We have to take into account that the speed varies with frequency also in a medium such as our atmosphere.

2. The special theory of relativity assumes the existence of a unique class of global coordinate systems - called inertial coordinates - with respect to which the speed of light in vacuum is everywhere equal to the constant c. It was natural, then, to express physical laws in terms of this preferred class of coordinate systems, characterized by the global invariance of the speed of light. In addition, the special theory also strongly implied the fundamental equivalence of mass and energy, according to which light (and every other form of energy) must be regarded as possessing inertia. However, it soon became clear that the global invariance of light speed together with the idea that energy has inertia (as expressed in the famous relation E2 = m2 + |p|2) were incompatible with one of the most firmly established empirical results of physics, namely, the exact proportionality of inertial and gravitational mass, which Einstein elevated to the status of a Principle.

Here is a very nice set of lecture notes on this very subject:

http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March01/Carroll3/Carroll_contents.html