Hoek, Fizeau, and Einstein's Special Relativity
Walter Babin
Keywords: Hoek, Fizeau, Special Relativity, Einstein
One of the principal concerns of early experimenters in electromagnetism was the detection of a carrier for light waves (the aether). Theories in the mid 1800's ranged from that of Stokes, where it was assumed the aether was completely carried along by matter, to Fresnel and partial convection, to Maxwell and the universal aether, where light did not participate in the motion of matter in the slightest. The main problem in resolving the issue lay in an inability to obtain accuracy greater than first order in terrestrial experiments, because of the exceedingly small ratio between the velocities attainable for material objects and that of light (v/c).
