21 February 2014 10:00am — 4:30pm
History Faculty
University of Oxford
George Street, Oxford
Speakers :
Imogen Clarke, 'The ether at the crossroads of classical and modern physics'
Jaume Navarro, 'Ether and wireless: an old medium into new media'
Richard Noakes, 'The ethereal in scientific cultures, 1880-1930'
Richard Staley, 'Einstein’s ether'
Michael Whitworth, 'Ether and its Metaphors'
‘All that is solid melts into air’ …
In scientific theory and popular imagination, it was proposed up to the 19th century that electromagnetic waves must move, like the waves of an ocean, through an all-pervading
medium. The ether was the material substance which was thought to be constantly vibrating with the force of many electromagnetic waves.
But experiments and Einstein’s theory of relativity challenged the very existence of this supposed substance, just at the time when radio was promoting the importance of the ether
as the medium through which nation would speak to nation. What were the ripples, throughout cultural and intellectual life, of the demise of the ether?
This event is free but booking is essential. Email [log in to unmask],
with subject line: ETHER
Dr Alexandra Franklin
Co-ordinator, Centre for the Study of the Book
Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts
Bodleian Library
Oxford OX1 3BG
Tel.: +44 (0) 1865 277006
e-mail: [log in to unmask]