Did Einstein Believe in the Aether? Deciphering the Controversial Claims

In summary, Albert Einstein discussed the concept of the aether in a 1920 quote, stating that it is a medium without mechanical and kinematic properties, but which codetermines mechanical and electromagnetic events. He distinguishes this aether from the physical-real things that play a role in the causal nexus of physics, and suggests that it is more appropriate to refer to them as "physcial qualities of space." He also addresses the idea that the Newtonian concept of absolute space could serve as an aether, but notes that this is not the case. He further discusses the role of aether in different branches of physics, such as geometry and kinematics, and concludes that the concept of aether is necessary in the dynamics of Gal
  • #36
Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you + [oo]
 
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  • #37
Originally posted by andy
**Volountarily censored due to PF policies** (by me!)



A Prime example of someones intellect, and/or the complete lack thereof, as evidenced by the inability to find any other manner of expressiveness, other then those silly, trite, childish, words!
 
  • #38
I didn't quote your post on Einstein citaions because it's long. But I can say a couple of things about it.

I completely agree with the first quotation. Einstein firmly believed that his gravitational field defined spacetime. He often wrote that there is no spacetime* without the field. By this he didn't just mean "spacetime is full of the field" he meant "where the field is not, there is no spacetime". everything that we take to be spacetime is really just the field. This is his aether.

Note that the occasion of your quote is the same speech that I abstracted from in my first reply to you. Before giving the description of his aether (he is responsible for the a) which you reproduce, he said that it doesn't have any mechanical or kinematical proerties. If the two of us can agree that that speech represents Einstein's views - the whole speach not just our separate pieces of it (blind men and the elephant), then there is no further disagreement.

I firmly agree with you about the second quote. This is just what creators feel as death approaches - everything they have made seems to be trivial or incorrect. cf. Newton and the child at the beach.


* Einstein commonly wrote "space" for what we should call "spacetime". We know this because he would sometimes add a footnote like "in the sense of Minkowsi".
 
  • #39
And i suppose hahahahaha isn't childish? especially with the big bright font that you used.
 
  • #40
Originally posted by Andy
And i suppose hahahahaha isn't childish? especially with the big bright font that you used.

No, it isn't childish, it is childlike...HUGE difference!
 
  • #41
I think I'm going to have a seizure...
 

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