The Aether – What is it?
• Aether (sometimes colloquially shortened to ether) is an ancient concept dating back into antiquity. The spelling “Aether” is used to help avoid the inevitable confusion of its similarity to the chemical compound ether, thus the old saw, “Aether is the medium of space while ether is the gas that knocks you out”. However, although it is technically incorrect, both spelling are currently used interchangeably. Thus, in its most basic form, aether is nothing more than a distributed physical medium permeating the entire universe, endowing it [space] with measurable physical qualities. Einstein readily acknowledged this when, in 1920 (See “Sidelights on Relativity”, A. Einstein, Dover Edition 1983 Page 23), he said: ” space is endowed with physical qualities; in this sense, therefore, there exists an ether.” It is more important to point out here what aether is not required to be. Aether is not a preferred reference frame (it could be, but isn’t required to be). The specific properties of
