%0 Journal Article
%T Equivalence Principle and Ether: Two Revolutionary Kernels of Einstein¡¯s General Relativity
%A Salvo D¡¯agostino
%J Advances in Historical Studies
%P 240-253
%@ 2327-0446
%D 2016
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ahs.2016.55019
%X Einstein¡¯s discovery of the Equivalence Principle is
to be considered as the most fundamental concept at the origin of his General
Relativity. I highlight that the ether problem is related with Enstein¡¯s
conception of gravitational waves as a perturbation of the space-time
curvature, formalized as a specific space-time process, and not as the effect
of a whatever supporting medium. Quite differently, the nineteenth century
field theory of gravitation supported by physicists such as Maxwell, Heaviside,
and Hertz, was based on a search for substantial ether, and on a parallelism with Maxwell¡¯s
theory of electromagnetic waves. The negative results of their theories proved
that parallelism was a wrong approach. Einstein¡¯s genius superseded their
approach by considering that it was not a matter of the ether¡¯s constitution,
but of a fundamental change in the role and nature of physics. In my paper I
refer to Einstein¡¯s different approaches to ether since his 1905 Special
Relativity up to his 1950¡¯ views. I argue that his different attempts were
symptoms of the difficulty of his revolutionary innovation.
%K Einstein
%K Maxwell
%K Heaviside
%K Hertz
%K Cassirer
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=73182