Abstract

Apparently, the successes of Einstein' s general relativity theory have drawn attention away from his special relativity theory, which is one foundation of the general theory. The successes of special relativity are shown to be equally the successes of aether theory. as developed by George Stokes, G. F. Fitzgerald, H. A. Lorentz. A. A. Michelson. Herbert Ives and Petr Beckman, together with the implications of a new experimental discovery on light aberration by Ronald Hatch. It is submitted that the differing physical implications of the various theories deserve to be brought to the attention of the physics profession generally. Even the general theory should be weighed against the modified versions of Herbert Ives, Robert Dicke and Tom Van Flandern, while reserving for Einstein the intuition that started it all.