HERTZ, H. (HEINRICH RUDOLF). - A NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE ETHER.

Ueber die Grundgleichungen der Electrodynamik für bewegte Körper.

Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1880. Without wrappers as issued in "Annalen der Physik und Chemie. Hrsg. von G. Wiedemann.", Neue Folge Bd. 41, 11. Heft. Pp. 369-640 (entire issue offered, Heft 11). Hertz's paper: pp. 369-399. cLEAN AND FINE.

First edition of this importent paper in which Hertz went beyond Maxwell and hereby took the first step on the way to RELATIVITY THEORY.

In his second theoretical paper (the paper offered), Hertz applied Maxwell’s equations to moving, deformable bodies. Maxwell had not treated this problem systematically in the Treatise although, unknown to Hertz, he had done so elsewhere. Hertz recognized that to develop an electrodynamics of moving bodies, it was first necessary to specify whether or not the ether moves with bodies. For his part he would assume that the ether is mechanically dragged by moving bodies. The first ground for this assumption was that within the restricted domain of electromagnetic phenomena there was nothing incompatible with the idea of a dragged ether. The second ground was that its denial entailed the complication that two sets of electric and magnetic vectors had to be assigned to each point of space, one for the ether and one for the independently moving body. He recognized at the same time that a dragged ether was an unsure foundation for electrodynamics...."(DSB).

Schilpp "Einstein" pp. 31 ff. - Whittaker "A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity", pp. 328 ff.

Order-nr.: 44844