Chapter 1
The Discovery of the Ether
The discovery of the ether had taken a long time. Once it was finally discovered,
one could neither show it, see it, hear it nor touch it. There was nothing. Really
discovered?
However, incredible phenomena came to light, curious properties of measuringrods and clocks. One was repeatedly able to demonstrate these effects more
precisely—even the furious spectacle of mass bursting into raging energy during
nuclear fission.
Ether or Special Relativity? No question. Does the old ether have to be thrown
into the proverbial dustbin where it belongs?
We want to retrieve it from this dustbin. For the sake of its inventors, of whom
we know so much about it. This time we will be able to see and touch the ether. We
will not see the old ether. That is impossible. We will have to resort to a trick that is
used in films. We will organise a double, a double so identical to the original in all
aspects that it could be taken to be an identical twin, so that we can correctly state:
This is ‘the ether’. We will observe in which way the Special Theory of Relativity is
valid due to the ether, and we will see the conditions under which Special Relativity
fails.
Ernst Mach was the forerunner of the Special Theory of Relativity.
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz continuously got nearer to the theory.
Henri Poincaré prepared it and nearly had it.
Albert Einstein discovered it.
Since then, there have been enthusiastic critics, who today would belong to those
that would still construct a perpetual-motion machine. It is nevertheless not unusual
that physicists are of a different opinion when discussing the experimental details of
the twin paradox. Undisputed is Karl Popper’s [77] statement that a physical theory
can never be verified. It can only be shown to be false. We can never prove that a
physical theory is correct. At the most, we can show where a theory falters and where
it no longer applies.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive
license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Günther, Elementary Approach to Special Relativity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3168-2_1
1
The Discovery of the Ether
The discovery of the ether had taken a long time. Once it was finally discovered,
one could neither show it, see it, hear it nor touch it. There was nothing. Really
discovered?
However, incredible phenomena came to light, curious properties of measuringrods and clocks. One was repeatedly able to demonstrate these effects more
precisely—even the furious spectacle of mass bursting into raging energy during
nuclear fission.
Ether or Special Relativity? No question. Does the old ether have to be thrown
into the proverbial dustbin where it belongs?
We want to retrieve it from this dustbin. For the sake of its inventors, of whom
we know so much about it. This time we will be able to see and touch the ether. We
will not see the old ether. That is impossible. We will have to resort to a trick that is
used in films. We will organise a double, a double so identical to the original in all
aspects that it could be taken to be an identical twin, so that we can correctly state:
This is ‘the ether’. We will observe in which way the Special Theory of Relativity is
valid due to the ether, and we will see the conditions under which Special Relativity
fails.
Ernst Mach was the forerunner of the Special Theory of Relativity.
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz continuously got nearer to the theory.
Henri Poincaré prepared it and nearly had it.
Albert Einstein discovered it.
Since then, there have been enthusiastic critics, who today would belong to those
that would still construct a perpetual-motion machine. It is nevertheless not unusual
that physicists are of a different opinion when discussing the experimental details of
the twin paradox. Undisputed is Karl Popper’s [77] statement that a physical theory
can never be verified. It can only be shown to be false. We can never prove that a
physical theory is correct. At the most, we can show where a theory falters and where
it no longer applies.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive
license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Günther, Elementary Approach to Special Relativity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3168-2_1
1