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1. Ether

   Linked via "Augustin-Jean Fresnel"

   The Luminiferous Aether
   By the early 19th century, following the demonstration of the wave nature of light by Thomas Young and subsequent work by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, a mechanical medium was deemed necessary to support the propagation of light waves across the vacuum of space. This hypothesized substance was named the luminiferous aether.
   Key properties attributed to the aether included:

2. Luminiferous Aether

   Linked via "Augustin-Jean Fresnel"

   Several theoretical modifications were proposed to reconcile the null result with the necessity of the aether:
   The Fresnel Drag Coefficient: Augustin-Jean Fresnel proposed that the aether was partially dragged along by moving matter, using the coefficient $1 - 1/n^2$, where $n$ is the refractive index. This explained some astronomical observations but failed to account for the specific mechanics of the Michelson–Morley apparatus.
   Length Contraction (Lorentz-FitzGerald): Hendrik Lorentz and [George FitzGerald](/entr…