The Aether and Heinrich Hertz's The Principles of Mechanics Presented in a New Form

Abstract.

The luminiferous aether played an important role in the careers of one of the greatest of nineteenth-century physicists, Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894). This paper demonstrates from Hertz's own writings the maturing of his interest in the aether during the years 1885–1894 until he finally considered the nature of the aether the most important problem remaining to be solved by physicists. This conviction, joined to his desire to reduce all physics to mechanics, eventually led Hertz to devote the last three years of his life (1891–1894) to his The Principles of Mechanics Presented in a New Form, a work he intended as preparatory to an all-out attack on the nature and functions of an aether. The reason why, after Hertz's premature death in 1894, physicists gradually lost interest in both his Mechanics and in the aether are discussed.