found this in a high school physics book from 1923 in a used bookstore (i didn't buy it though)
@brennen yeah, i would have thought so too? i also took a picture of the preface & copyright page
https://octodon.social/media/8WLf0y5sJDNoPGEhcK8
@brennen so i guess they tried? lol
Cool and strange. I've heard ether is trying to come back as dark matter. 👀
now i'm thinking i might go back and get it
@bunnyhero I mean we just call that "the electromagnetic field" now
@bunnyhero Textbooks often lag behind somewhat.
@bunnyhero I love this so much. (The ether is my favorite scientific misconception, I think.)
@bunnyhero That's based on the theory of Luminiferous Ether: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether
which Einstein finally KO-ed with relativity. But there were still people pushing "ether" in the 20s and 30s. Some of them even aligned with the Nazis out of spite for Einstein!
@KnowPresent whoa i didn't know about the nazi connection!
@bunnyhero Yeah even science is not immune to wacko ideology. "Aryan Physics" was an actual pseudo-science thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik
@KnowPresent ugh yikes
@bunnyhero quite a bit outta date for '23, isn't it? then again, i guess, textbook.