Aether

The aether was a substance which supposedly occupied all of space, and its existence was thought to be required to explain how light waves could be propagated through space, since all wave transmission requires a medium. Its existence has been postulated in various forms ans uses throughout the ages, from the Ancient Greeks to Newton to the scientists of the Victorian Era. Aristotle called aether the Fifth Element.

Indeed, James Clark Maxwell, the father of Electromagnetic Theory and a figure widely considered to be one of the greatest scientists to have lived, utilizes aether in his treatise:

  “ In several parts of this treatise an attempt has been made to explain electromagnetic phenomena by means of mechanical action transmitted from one body to another by means of a medium occupying the space between them. The undulatory theory of light also assumes the existence of a medium. We have now to show that the properties of the electromagnetic medium are identical with those of the luminiferous medium. ” --James Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism/Part IV/Chapter XX

See Also

• Timeline of Lumniferous Aether - Wikipedia