The search for the Aether : From Roemer to Einstein, who abolished it to get E=mc$^{2}$

COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited

Abstract

This talk concerns the highly unlikely connection between attempts to locate an absolute frame of reference in the universe, and Einstein's equation between mass and energy*. The Aether, a ghostly vortex foam, which all scientists before 1900 believed filled the universe, provided the frame of reference against which the speed of light was to be measured, giving Maxwell's fixed speed and a medium to support light propagation in vacuum. The excellent agreement between Fresnel's Aether drag theory (assuming an Aether) and Michelson's null result caused a major crisis in Physics around 1900. The resolution to this was found in Einstein's relativity, while the resolution to a second crisis , understanding back-body radiation, led to the birth of quantum mechanics. I'll describe the history of measurements of the speed of light from the ancient Greeks, through Roemer, Bradley, Wheatstone, Fresnel, Faraday, Fizeau, Focault, Maxwell and Michelson. I'll end with relativity and quantum schemes for faster than light communication. * "Lightspeed". J.C.H.Spence. Oxford University Press (2019).

–

Authors

  • John Spence

    Brigham Young University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, Department of Scientific Research, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 10028, Century Darkroom, Toronto, ON M4M 2S1, Canada, Colorado State University, University of Waterloo, Southern Connecticut State University, Clemson University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Bordeaux, BYU REU Program, New Mexico State University, Arizona State University, Biodesign Institute, Center for Applied Structural Discovery, University of Utah, University of Hawaii, Johns Hopkins University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Arizona State University, Utah State University, Department of Physics, United States Air Force Academy, Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, United States Air Force Academy, Lousiana State University, Brigham Young University - Provo, The University of New Mexico, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Brigham Young University, Department of Materials, Devices, and Energy Technologies, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA, Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA, Center for Memory and Recording research, UCSD, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, University of New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Chicago