Accessible treatment offers highly detailed accounts concerning development of ideas and theories about the nature of electricity and space (aether), focusing on period from Descartes to Lorentz, Einstein, and Minkowski. 1960 edition.

Hardcover reprint of the original 1910 edition - beautifully bound in brown cloth covers featuring titles stamped in gold, 8vo - 6x9. No adjustments have been made to the original text, giving readers the full antiquarian experience. For quality purposes, all text and images are printed as black and white. This item is printed on demand. Book Information: Whittaker, E. T. (Edmund Taylor). A History Of The Theories Of Aether And Electricity: From The Age Of Descartes To The Close Of The Nineteenth Century. Indiana: Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012. Original Publishing: Whittaker, E. T. (Edmund Taylor). A History Of The Theories Of Aether And Electricity: From The Age Of Descartes To The Close Of The Nineteenth Century, . London; New York: Longmans, Green Etc., Etc., 1910. Subject: Ether Space History

Excerpt from A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: From the Age of Descartes to the Close of the Nineteenth Century Newton shows that rays Obtained by double refraction have sides his Objections to the undulatory theory. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In 1910, E. T. Whittaker wrote "A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity," which gave a very detailed account of the aether theories from Rene Descartes to Hendrik Lorentz, and which made Whittaker a respected historian of science. Though the book was a "History," Whittaker showed his own brilliance in his exposition of relativity. (Fully illustrated)

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Excerpt from A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: From the Age of Descartes to the Close of the Nineteenth Century Th observation of the heavens, which has been pursued continually from the earliest ages, revealed to the ancients the regularity of the planetary motions, and gave rise to the conception of the universal order. Modern research, building on this foundation, has shown how intimate is the connexion between the different celestial bodies. They are formed of the same kind of matter; they are similar in origin and history; and across the vast spaces which divide them they hold perpetual intercourse. Until the seventeenth century the only influence which was known to be capable of passing from star to star was that of light. Newton added to this the force of gravity; and it is now recognized that the power of communicating across vacuous regions is possessed also by the electric and magnetic attractions. It is thus erroneous to regard the heavenly bodies as isolated in vacant space; around and between them is an incessant conveyance and transformation of energy. To the vehicle of this activity the name aether has been given. The aether is the solitary tenant of the universe, save for that infinitesimal fraction of space which is occupied by ordinary matter. Hence arises a problem which has long engaged attention, and is not yet completely solved: What relation subsist between the medium which fills the interstellar void and the condensations of matter that are scattered throughout it? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.