My Philosophy
Representing my Views on the Many Functions of the Ether of Space

First published in 1933, this is Sir Oliver Lodge's defence of the luminiferous ether against the new physics of relativity.

Oliver Lodge (Author)

9781108052672, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 August 2012

324 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.48 kg

In his study of optics, Newton postulated that light, like sound, must be carried through a medium, and that this medium must exist even in a vacuum. By the late nineteenth century, this theoretical substance was known as the luminiferous ether. But the ether theory faced several problems. If the earth moved through ether, there would be ether wind, and light travelling against the flow would move more slowly than light travelling with it. That was soon disproven. Nor could the ether be stationary: by 1905, Einstein's work on relativity had disproven absolute motion. In this fascinating advocacy of ether, first published in 1933, Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) fiercely defends ether against the new physics, arguing for solid models over mathematical abstractions, and urging new ether experiments. With in-depth references to Einstein, Jeans and Eddington, this book is still relevant to students in the history of science.

Foreword
Part I. An Elementary Survey of Physical Existence: 1. The constitution of things around us
2. The progress of physical science
3. Design and purpose in the universe
4. Religion and science
5. The organism and the control
6. The property of inertia
7. Summary of new knowledge
8. Machinery of guidance
Part II. Evidence for and Controversies Concerning the Ether: 9. Matter, energy and the ether
10. The ether and the forms of energy
11. Faraday's conception of the ether
12. Modern gibes at the ether
13. The physical aspect of the universe
14. Views of Thomas Young, Newton and Fresnel
15. The ether and relativity
16. Magnetism and the ether, with suggestions for experiment
17. Summary of our present knowledge about the ether
Part III. Introduction of Life and Mind: 18. The interaction of the psychical with the physical
19. Life and mechanism
20. A psychical function suggested for the ether of space
21. Ether and the soul
Part IV. The Evidence for Survival and its Mechanism: 22. Evidence for and mechanism of survival
23. On the difficulty of proving individual survival
24. On the reasons for the non-recognition of psychical research by the majority of the scientific world
25. On the apparent element of caprice introduced by the spiritistic hypothesis
26. The whole organically considered
27. The spiritistic hypothesis
28. The bearing of the theory upon religions
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]