Xref: utzoo sci.physics:15089 sci.bio:3749 sci.chem:2304 sci.med:20875
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uoft02.utoledo.edu!fax0236
From: fax0236@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.med
Subject: Re: Forgotten Entities: Do You Remember Any?
Message-ID: <1990Oct28.213537.2054@uoft02.utoledo.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 90 02:35:37 GMT
References: <1990Oct25.232546.12357@portia.Stanford.EDU> <1990Oct27.093037.2024@uoft02.utoledo.edu> <1990Oct28.004012.19939@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Lines: 39

In article <1990Oct28.004012.19939@wpi.WPI.EDU>, avenger@wpi.WPI.EDU (Samuel Joseph Pullara) writes:
> In article <1990Oct27.093037.2024@uoft02.utoledo.edu> fax0236@uoft02.utoledo.edu writes:
>>In article <1990Oct25.232546.12357@portia.Stanford.EDU>, zimm@portia.Stanford.EDU (Dylan Yolles) writes:
>>> I'm interested in looking at the "forgotten entities" of science--entities
>>> which were once considered somehow "real" by some or most scientists but
>>> which were later recognized not to exist.
>>> 
> The ether was thought to exist all the way up to the 1920's... I don't
> know, maybe someone still believes it...
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> /------------------------------------------------------------------------\
> | Sam Pullara, Undergraduate Physics     Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
> | avenger@wpi.wpi.edu                      (c) 1990 Avenger Publications |
> |______________-All my opinions were expressed or implied.-______________|


The ether, for those poor souls who have never read science fiction from
the Golden Age, was the "substance" of space through which electromagnetic
and other radiation was propagated.  Yes, it was also truly believed to
exist.  The best descriptions and uses of the ether and subether can be
found in the writings of E. E. "Doc" Smith in his Lensman series.  These
are truly classics and should be read not only for the ether, but simply
as good literature (although arguably "pulp", these stories are some of
the best of that genre) and as good science fiction based on good science
of the time.

I believe that the original Star Trek series "subspace communications"
were also based on the "ether" or "subether" (I seem to remember such
terminology used, but I could be mistaken).

Doug Smith
University of Toledo

"Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in
doing whatever you think is worth doing."  Dr. Jubal Harshaw to
Maureen Smith, in "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" by Robert Heinlein