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You have this entirely backward. Ether was introduced because, previously, all other wave motion was waving something. It was standard issue. Waves in the oc
by at_a_remove 4y ago
You have this entirely backward.
Ether was introduced because, previously, all other wave motion was waving something. It was standard issue. Waves in the ocean? Must be waving something. Waves in air? Must be waving something. Positing that there was nothing there "waving" would be the new thing.
Second, introduction of a "thing," only to find out that it is real is quite common. Witness the neutrino -- originally just a placeholder to make the math work.
- kortex 4y agoHow is that any different? Sounds like "dark matter was introduced because, previously, all other matter interaction was pulling on something". It walks invisibly but quacks like matter (lensing, galaxy geometry, etc) so we call it dark matter. It's all the ways in which it doesn't act like matter which make it interesting.