What do pervading and aether mean?

[s3a]

What do "pervading" and "aether" mean?

What do "pervading" and "aether" mean in: "Isaac Newton considered light to be a beam of particles that set the pervading aether vibrating." ?

I'm not taking a Quantum Mechanics course but I might in the future but either way, I'm interested in learning about it so I bought this book and that's the very first sentence and I already don't get it lol. Could someone please break this down so I can understand it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[HallsofIvy]

The "aether" was simply the substance that Newton believed filled the universe. "Pervading" simply means "filling" or "is everywhere".

 

[s3a]

Thanks!

 

[Dickfore]

I don't think Newton believed in aether though. Particles do not need a medium to propagate. Waves do. The hypothesis that light was some kind of wave propagating through the "luminiferous aether" (from lumen = light in latin) was put forward by Christian Huygens.

 

[TrickyDicky]

Waves do.

So I guess you consider the vacuum a medium.