Did Einstein Believe in the Aether? Deciphering the Controversial Claims

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter selfAdjoint
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Einstein Ether
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on the interpretation of Albert Einstein's views on the concept of "aether" post-1919. Mr. Robin Parsons argues that Einstein confessed to believing in aether, while others cite a 1920 quote from Einstein indicating that his understanding of aether diverged from traditional mechanical interpretations. The discussion also references the Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887, which is acknowledged as a pivotal test disproving the existence of aether, thereby allowing Einstein to formulate his theory of special relativity. Participants express a need for translations of German documents from the Einstein Archives to clarify these claims.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Einstein's theories, particularly special relativity.
  • Familiarity with the historical context of the Michelson-Morley experiment.
  • Basic knowledge of physics terminology related to aether and field theory.
  • Ability to read and translate German scientific texts (optional but beneficial).
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment on modern physics.
  • Explore Einstein's 1920 quote regarding aether in the context of his theories.
  • Study the evolution of the concept of aether in physics from Newton to Einstein.
  • Investigate the translation of Einstein's original German documents for further insights.
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, historians of science, and anyone interested in the philosophical implications of Einstein's theories and the historical debates surrounding the concept of aether.

  • #31
So, personalities aside, let's review the bidding on Einstein and the ether.

Einstein has definitely written that the ether he talks about is not the ether that was part of physics before relativity. Einstein says he believes that ether was undone by special relativity.

Einstein has also defined the ether he talks about in terms that make it clearly the spacetime/gravity field of his General Relativity. Not a mechanical or kinematical thing itself, but codetermining mechanical efects.

Mr. Robin Parsons is of course free to disregard this or to put some special private meaning upon what seem to me to be Einstein's plain words. but for me it seems that the canard that Einstein accepted the ether after 1919 has definitely been shown to be false.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #32
From this site...
http://www.keelynet.com/energy/comefrom.txt

this quotation of Albert Einstein...

Originally stated by Einstein(?)
Albert EINSTElN: ""There are weighty arguments to be adduced in favor of the ether hypothesis. To deny the ether is ultimately to assume that empty space has no physical qualities whatever, The fundamental facts of mechanics do not harmonize with this view According to the General Theory of Relativity, space is endowed with physical qualities ; in this sense, therefore, there exists an ether According to the General Theory of Relativity space without ether is unthinkable. ."

Noted as; "The above quote by Dr. Albert Einstein was published in 1920, based on Einstein's speech at the University of Leiden, Holland, (May 5, 1920)."

Followed by; Einstein himself has gone on record stating on his 70th birthday .

Originally stated by Einstein
"Now you think that I am looking back at my life's work with calm satisfaction. But, on closer look, it is quite different. There is not a single concept of which I am convinced that it will stand firm and I am not sure if I was on the right track after all:"

Which, personally, I dislike (as a quote of him) as he is no longer here to defend himself.
 
  • #33
Originally posted by Andy
No i have nothing about Ether to add to this discussion because i don't pretend to know what I am talking about.

LOL ad infinitum

(Does that mean that you admit to what you don't know? Ha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaw...)
 
  • #34
That means that if i don't know what's being talked about i either say or sit back and keep my mouth shut until i have a grasp of what is being talked about. I don't get involved in arguments when i don't have some knowledge of what's being argued about.
 
  • #35
Originally posted by Andy
That means that if i don't know what's being talked about i either say or sit back and keep my mouth shut until i have a grasp of what is being talked about. I don't get involved in arguments when i don't have some knowledge of what's being argued about.


HAhahahahahaha + [oo][/color][/size]
 
  • #36
Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you Fvck you + [oo]
 
  • #37
Originally posted by andy
**Volountarily censored due to PF policies**[/color] (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[/size] difference!
 
  • #41
I think I'm going to have a seizure...
 

Similar threads

Graduate Is Einstein's etheric model of GR compatible with modern physics?
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
Graduate Lorentz ether frame, Relativistic Mass, and Inertia
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
4K