Einstein and the Ether

This is a great book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was like being there with Einstein through all of his travails. This book is filled with interesting details on the evolution of Einstein’s thinking as he progressed from the Special Theory to the General theory to the many attempts at a Unified Theory. Who would have thought that when the Special Theory was published in 1905 Einstein was not familiar with tensor calculus; and therefore, was not too impressed when Hermann Minkowski used it to create a new mathematical description of Special Relativity, Einstein calling it “superfluous erudition.” The author says on p. 158, “Einstein had introduced the space-time physics of the Special Theory of Relativity without using the tensor calculus or a four-dimensional geometric model; the first to do so was Hermann Minkowski.” It was only after friend and mathematician Marcel Grossman walked him through the details that Einstein fully appreciated the application of tensor math to the curved surfaces of worlds, galaxies, and the universe. He later thanked Minkowski for his contribution, then published his first paper using tensor calculus in 1913 and never looked back.As for the main subject of the book, once again it was a surprise to learn that Einstein considered no less than seven different models for relativistic ether and used various names interchangeably to describe them. They were all different than the static ether used by Newton and favored by Lorentz during his lifetime. I gleaned from the book – correctly, I hope – that Einstein’s ether is a tensor field, and in some manifestations many tensor fields. The author devotes some space at the end of the book to consider whether Einstein’s ether should be referred to with the traditional “ether” term, or “relativistic ether,” “new ether” (one of Einstein’s terms) or “Einstein’s ether.” He concludes that – like the term “atom” – we should retain the term “ether” and accept that the meaning has evolved over time. This was surprising since the author acknowledges that there are those who still use the static Lorentz ether in their cosmological models. Personally, the “static” and “relativistic” qualifiers are helpful to me as category headings, knowing that there are many sub-divisions under those headings. I am also of the opinion that – in the internet era – we should utilize the “aether” spelling, since internet searches for “ether” produce many results unrelated to physics.There were many passages in the book that provoked thought and caused me to lay the book aside while I investigated the implications, so I will mention just one. The book states on page 155 that the earth moves at 400 km/s with respect to the cosmic background radiation, our galaxy at about 600 km/s, and that if we “move with great velocity with respect to this reference frame, we, as living beings, would be killed by this radiation because of the Doppler effect.” This made me think about the Hubble expansion coefficient, which says that galaxies are moving away from the earth at speeds proportional to their distance, specifically about 70 km per second per million parsecs. It then becomes simple math to determine that galaxies 4.3 billion parsecs (14 billion light-years) distant are moving away from us at the speed of light. Since the universe is much larger than this, galaxies further away are moving even faster!? And unless the cosmic microwave background is moving at substantially the same speed, all organic matter is dead at extreme distances from us!? I thought this statement on page 155 was significant and did not bode well for our understanding of the expansion of the universe. I wonder if a relativistic aether would help us understand the expansion better.I will close by noting that there is a typographical error contained in the following sentence on p. iii of the Forward which the publisher will want to correct at the next printing:The distinction between the three kinds of “ether” finds its mathematical expression in the different properties of the corresponding gravitational potentials gµv of the fundamental metric tensor: the ether of the special theory of relativity is characterized by the condition that gµv = ηµv, where the latter is the Minkowski metric, the ether of the general theory by gµv ═ gµv of the Reimann metric, and the ether of the unified theory by the fact that gµv ≠ gvµ.The statement on general relativity should read, “… the ether of the general theory by gµv ═ gvµ ...” The text on pages 116, 168 and 179 supports this correction.This was a good read. Skipping over the equations does not diminish the excellent storytelling contained in the book. If you ever wanted to be there – watching – as Einstein’s ideas progressed from a young boy working in the family dynamo factory all the way to the various unified theories, this book is for you.

This book really surprised me because it demonstrates conclusively that the general view that Einstein dispelled the ether in his 1905 paper and never looked back is totally wrong. Einstein actually became a strong advocate of the "new ether" concept from about 1916 onwards, recognizing that space itself has physical qualities that are the basis for acceleration and other undeniable aspects of our world. This new ether was for Einstein still relativistic but it opens up a powerful philosophical and physical path of inquiry when we acknowledge that there is a structure and a depth to space itself. We are only now, a hundred years after Einstein's initial work, starting to really delve into these qualities. The Higgs field itself is very likely part of this new physics, but the connections have not yet been made in this regard in mainstream physics - yet.

Might well have been titled 'Much Ado about Nothing.' Even though the topic arguably lacks substance, Kostro has managed to write 200 pages, every one of them interesting. Quite an achievement.

The clairification that Ludwik Kostro provides about the true ideas Einstein had conclusively to express about space (the ether) and spacial interactions is a very important contribution to the understanding of major problems tackled by contemporary physics. In particular, it seems an important call of attention for all those who are interested in finding new ways for involving "the substance" of which the physical space consists, with a view to defining more satisfactory and manageable theories concerning gravitation.The book by Kostro relies upon a remarkable amount of largely unknown documentation about Einstein's views and activity, whith the consequence of dismantling many superficial and misleading myths currently accepted about Einstein and his theory of relativity.

To understand Einstein this is a good read on a subject he thought about constantly as it provides a struucture for his thinking.

If you are interested in Relativity, I would consider this book a must. Shows a lot of popular physics books on Relativity have a lot of misrepresentations in them

"Einstein and the Ether" is a great book that changes our understanding of twentieth century physics in a fundamental way. I heartily recommend that every educated person read it, for at least two reasons:1. It is a major cultural shock for practically all physicists and philosophers to learn that Albert Einstein himself was favourable to the existence of a relativistic ether during the last forty years of his life. I experienced this shock myself when Ludwik Kostro first told me about his book and I read his preliminary papers on this subject. Now I witness everyone else's surprise when I lecture on relativistic physics and cite these new historical findings about Einstein's acceptance of the ether.2. The book is a fascinating voyage into the mind of the greatest scientist of the twentieth century. Even a great physicist like Einstein cannot avoid having doubts, changing his opinion and making mistakes. Kostro guides us in a fantastic cultural adventure, a guided tour through the brain of the founder of relativity at work building ever better physical theories.Kostro's touch is light but firm. His great gift is his ability to make the reader forget that there is an author between Einstein and himself. And yet a little reflection about the tremendous amount of information gathered in the book's two hundred forty-odd pages immediately shows how important, painstaking and intelligent his role has been.My deepest gratitude goes to Ludwik Kostro for this wonderful gift he has made to all people interested in the history and philosophy of science.