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Interesting footnote to this: when Maxwell first derived the relationship between electric current and magnetism he postulated the existence of a fixed medium,
by mustpax 15y ago
Interesting footnote to this: when Maxwell first derived the relationship between electric current and magnetism he postulated the existence of a fixed medium, aether, through which light travels at a constant speed. For a while measuring the Earth's relative velocity to the aether proved challenging. Einstein eventually did away with the concept of aether and asserted that light moves at the same speed in all reference frames, thus reconciling mechanics and electromagnetism.
- 27182818284 15y agoEinstein didn't do away with the concept, Michelson and Morley did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experi... Einstein filled the hole they left. It is worth mentioning because Morley was the first American to win the Nobel in Physics. That experiment changed business as usual.