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<title>Aether (classical element)</title>

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</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks" style="width:20em"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title"><a href="Classical_element" title="Classical element">Classical elements</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="Classical_element#Classical_elements_in_Greece" title="Classical element">Hellenistic</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="background-color: #eee;"><a href="Air_(classical_element)" title="Air (classical element)">Air</a>

<div style="width: 33%"><a href="Water_(classical_element)" title="Water (classical element)">Water</a></div><div style="width: 33%"></div><div style="width: 33%"><a href="Fire_(classical_element)" title="Fire (classical element)">Fire</a></div>

</div>

<a href="Earth_(classical_element)" title="Earth (classical element)">Earth</a></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="Tattva" title="Tattva">Hinduism</a> / <a href="Tattva_(Jainism)" title="Tattva (Jainism)">Jainism</a> / <a href="Mah%C4%81bh%C5%ABta" title="Mahābhūta">Buddhism</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="background-color: #eee;"><a href="Vayu" title="Vayu">Vayu</a>

<div style="width: 33%"><a href="Ap_(water)" title="Ap (water)">Ap</a></div><div style="width: 33%"><a href="Akasha" title="Akasha">Akasha</a></div><div style="width: 33%"><a href="Agni" title="Agni">Agni</a></div>

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<a href="Prithvi" title="Prithvi">Prithvi</a></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="Wuxing_(Chinese_philosophy)" title="Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)">Chinese</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="background-color: #eee;"><a href="Wood_(wuxing)" title="Wood (wuxing)">Wood</a> (<span title="Chinese-language text"><span lang="zh">木</span></span>)

<div style="width: 33%"><a href="Water_(wuxing)" title="Water (wuxing)">Water</a> (<span title="Chinese-language text"><span lang="zh">水</span></span>)</div><div style="width: 33%"></div><div style="width: 33%"><a href="Fire_(wuxing)" title="Fire (wuxing)">Fire</a> (<span title="Chinese-language text"><span lang="zh">火</span></span>)</div>

<div style="width: 20%"></div><div style="width:25%;"><a href="Metal_(wuxing)" title="Metal (wuxing)">Metal</a> (<span title="Chinese-language text"><span lang="zh">金</span></span>)</div><div style="width:10%;"></div><div style="width:25%;"><a href="Earth_(wuxing)" title="Earth (wuxing)">Earth</a> (<span title="Chinese-language text"><span lang="zh">土</span></span>)</div><div style="width: 20%"></div>

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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="Godai_(Japanese_philosophy)" title="Godai (Japanese philosophy)">Japanese</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="background-color: #eee;">Wind (<span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja">風</span></span>)

<div style="width: 33%">Water (<span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja">水</span></span>)</div><div style="width: 33%"><a href="The_Void_(philosophy)" title="The Void (philosophy)">Void</a> (<span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja">空</span></span>)</div><div style="width: 33%">Fire (<span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja">火</span></span>)</div>

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Earth (<span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja">地</span></span>)</div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="Classical_element#Elements_in_Medieval_alchemy" title="Classical element">European alchemy</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="background-color: #eee;"><div style="padding: 0.5em 0; display: grid; grid: auto / 1fr 1fr 1fr; grid-template-areas: '. air .' 'water aether fire' '. earth .' 'sulphur mercury salt'">

<div style="grid-area: water"><span class="nowrap"><a href="Water_(classical_element)" title="Water (classical element)">Water</a> <span typeof="mw:File"><a href="Water_(classical_element)" title="Water (classical element)"></a></span></span></div>

<div style="grid-area: earth"><span class="nowrap"><a href="Earth_(classical_element)" title="Earth (classical element)">Earth</a> <span typeof="mw:File"><a href="Earth_(classical_element)" title="Earth (classical element)"></a></span></span></div>

<div style="grid-area: sulphur"><span class="nowrap"><a href="Sulfur" title="Sulfur">Sulphur</a> <span typeof="mw:File"><a href="Sulfur" title="Sulfur"></a></span></span></div>

<div style="grid-area: mercury"><span class="nowrap"><a href="Mercury_(element)" title="Mercury (element)">Mercury</a><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="Mercury_(element)" title="Mercury (element)"></a></span></span></div>

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<p>According to ancient and <a href="History_of_science_in_the_Middle_Ages" class="mw-redirect" title="History of science in the Middle Ages">medieval science</a>, <b>aether</b> (<span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span><span title="/θ/: 'th' in 'thigh'">θ</span><span title="/ər/: 'er' in 'letter'">ər</span></span>/</span></span>, alternative spellings include <i>æther</i>, <i>aither</i>, and <i>ether</i>), also known as the <b>fifth element</b> or <b>quintessence</b>, is the material that fills the region of the <a href="Universe" title="Universe">universe</a> beyond the <a href="Sublunary_sphere" title="Sublunary sphere">terrestrial sphere</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Lloyd_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Lloyd-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several natural phenomena, such as the propagation of light and gravity. In the late 19th century, physicists postulated that aether permeated space, providing a medium through which light could travel in a <a href="Vacuum" title="Vacuum">vacuum</a>, but evidence for the presence of such a medium was not found in the <a href="Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment" title="Michelson–Morley experiment">Michelson–Morley experiment</a>, and this result has been interpreted to mean that no <a href="Luminiferous_aether" title="Luminiferous aether">luminiferous aether</a> exists.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Mythological_origins">Mythological origins</h2></div>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Aether_(mythology)" title="Aether (mythology)">Aether (mythology)</a></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="Empyrean" title="Empyrean">Empyrean</a></div>

<p>The word <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">αἰθήρ</span></span> (<i>aithḗr</i>) in <a href="Homeric_Greek" title="Homeric Greek">Homeric Greek</a> means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky".<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In <a href="Greek_mythology" title="Greek mythology">Greek mythology</a>, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the <i><a href="Air_(classical_element)" title="Air (classical element)">air</a></i> breathed by mortals.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is also personified as a deity, <a href="Aether_(mythology)" title="Aether (mythology)">Aether</a>, the son of <a href="Erebus" title="Erebus">Erebus</a> and <a href="Nyx_(mythology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Nyx (mythology)">Nyx</a> in traditional Greek mythology.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Aether is related to <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">αἴθω</span></span> "to incinerate",<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and intransitive "to burn, to shine" (related is the name <i>Aithiopes</i> (<a href="Ethiopia" title="Ethiopia">Ethiopians</a>; see <a href="Aethiopia" title="Aethiopia">Aethiopia</a>), meaning "people with a burnt (black) visage").<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Fage2526_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Fage2526-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Fifth_element">Fifth element</h2></div>

<p>In <a href="Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a>'s <i><a href="Timaeus_(dialogue)" title="Timaeus (dialogue)">Timaeus</a></i> (58d) speaking about air, Plato mentions that "there is the most translucent kind which is called by the name of aether (αἰθήρ)"<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> but otherwise he adopted the classical system of four elements. <a href="Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a>, who had been Plato's student at the <a href="Akademia" class="mw-redirect" title="Akademia">Academy</a>, agreed on this point with his former mentor, emphasizing additionally that fire has sometimes been mistaken for aether. However, in his Book <i><a href="On_the_Heavens" title="On the Heavens">On the Heavens</a></i> he introduced a new "first" element to the system of the <a href="Classical_element" title="Classical element">classical elements</a> of <a href="Ionian_School_(philosophy)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ionian School (philosophy)">Ionian</a> <a href="Greek_philosophy" class="mw-redirect" title="Greek philosophy">philosophy</a>. He noted that the four terrestrial classical elements were subject to change and naturally moved linearly. The first element however, located in the celestial regions and heavenly bodies, moved circularly and had none of the qualities the terrestrial classical elements had. It was neither hot nor cold, neither wet nor dry. With this addition the system of elements was extended to five and later commentators started referring to the new first one as the fifth and also called it <i>aether</i>, a word that Aristotle had used in <i>On the Heavens</i> and the <i>Meteorology</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Aether differed from the four terrestrial elements; it was incapable of motion of quality or motion of quantity. Aether was only capable of local motion. Aether naturally moved in circles, and had no contrary, or unnatural, motion. Aristotle also stated that <a href="Celestial_spheres" title="Celestial spheres">celestial spheres</a> made of aether held the stars and planets. The idea of aethereal spheres moving with natural circular motion led to Aristotle's explanation of the observed orbits of stars and planets in perfectly circular motion.<sup id="cite_ref-Lloyd_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Lloyd-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-smoot_11-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-smoot-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Medieval scholastic philosophers granted <i>aether</i> changes of density, in which the bodies of the planets were considered to be more dense than the medium which filled the rest of the universe.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="Robert_Fludd" title="Robert Fludd">Robert Fludd</a> stated that the aether was "subtler than light". Fludd cites the 3rd-century view of <a href="Plotinus" title="Plotinus">Plotinus</a>, concerning the aether as penetrative and non-material.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Quintessence">Quintessence</h2></div>

<p>Quintessence (𝓠) is the <a href="Latinate" class="mw-redirect" title="Latinate">Latinate</a> name of the fifth element used by medieval alchemists for a medium similar or identical to that thought to make up the heavenly bodies. It was noted that there was very little presence of quintessence within the terrestrial sphere. Due to the low presence of quintessence, earth could be affected by what takes place within the heavenly bodies.<sup id="cite_ref-TheAlchemists_14-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-TheAlchemists-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This theory was developed in the 14th century text <i>The testament of Lullius</i>, attributed to <a href="Ramon_Llull" title="Ramon Llull">Ramon Llull</a>. The use of quintessence became popular within medieval alchemy. Quintessence stemmed from the medieval elemental system, which consisted of the four classical elements, and aether, or quintessence, in addition to two chemical elements representing metals: <a href="Sulphur" class="mw-redirect" title="Sulphur">sulphur</a>, "the stone which burns", which characterized the principle of combustibility, and <a href="Mercury_(element)" title="Mercury (element)">mercury</a>, which contained the idealized principle of metallic properties.

</p><p>This elemental system spread rapidly throughout all of Europe and became popular with alchemists, especially in medicinal alchemy. Medicinal alchemy then sought to isolate quintessence and incorporate it within medicine and elixirs.<sup id="cite_ref-TheAlchemists_14-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-TheAlchemists-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Due to quintessence's pure and heavenly quality, it was thought that through consumption one may rid oneself of any impurities or illnesses. In <i>The book of Quintessence</i>, a 15th-century English translation of a continental text, quintessence was used as a medicine for many of man's illnesses. A process given for the creation of quintessence is <a href="Distillation" title="Distillation">distillation</a> of alcohol seven times.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Over the years, the term quintessence has become synonymous with <a href="Elixir" title="Elixir">elixirs</a>, medicinal <a href="Alchemy" title="Alchemy">alchemy</a>, and the <a href="Philosopher's_stone" title="Philosopher's stone">philosopher's stone</a> itself.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Legacy">Legacy</h2></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Aether_theories" title="Aether theories">Aether theories</a></div>

<p>With the <a href="History_of_physics#18th-century_developments" title="History of physics">18th century physics developments</a>, physical models known as "aether theories" made use of a similar concept for the explanation of the propagation of electromagnetic and gravitational forces. As early as the 1670s, Newton used the idea of aether to help match observations to strict mechanical rules of his physics.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The early modern aether had little in common with the aether of classical elements from which the name was borrowed. These aether theories are considered to be scientifically obsolete, as the development of <a href="Special_relativity" title="Special relativity">special relativity</a> showed that <a href="Maxwell's_equations" title="Maxwell's equations">Maxwell's equations</a> do not require the aether for the transmission of these forces. Einstein noted that his own model which replaced these theories could itself be thought of as an aether, as it implied that the empty space between objects had its own physical properties.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Despite the early modern aether models being superseded by general relativity, occasionally some physicists have attempted to reintroduce the concept of aether in an attempt to address perceived deficiencies in current physical models.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> One proposed model of <a href="Dark_energy" title="Dark energy">dark energy</a> has been named "<a href="Quintessence_(physics)" title="Quintessence (physics)">quintessence</a>" by its proponents, in honor of the classical element.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This idea relates to the hypothetical form of dark energy postulated as an explanation of observations of an accelerating universe. It has also been called a <a href="Fifth_force" title="Fifth force">fifth fundamental force</a>.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Aether_and_light">Aether and light</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Luminiferous_aether" title="Luminiferous aether">Luminiferous aether</a></div>

<p>The motion of light was a long-standing investigation in physics for hundreds of years before the 20th century. The use of aether to describe this motion was popular during the 17th and 18th centuries, including a theory proposed by <a href="Johann_II_Bernoulli" title="Johann II Bernoulli">Johann II Bernoulli</a>, who was recognized in 1736 with the prize of the French Academy. In his theory, all space is permeated by aether containing "excessively small whirlpools". These whirlpools allow for aether to have a certain elasticity, transmitting vibrations from the corpuscular packets of light as they travel through.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>This theory of <a href="Luminiferous_aether" title="Luminiferous aether">luminiferous aether</a> would influence the <a href="Wave" title="Wave">wave theory</a> of light proposed by <a href="Christiaan_Huygens" title="Christiaan Huygens">Christiaan Huygens</a>, in which light traveled in the form of <a href="Longitudinal_waves" class="mw-redirect" title="Longitudinal waves">longitudinal waves</a> via an "omnipresent, perfectly elastic medium having zero density, called aether". At the time, it was thought that in order for light to travel through a vacuum, there must have been a medium filling the void through which it could propagate, as sound through air or ripples in a pool. Later, when it was proved that the nature of light wave is <a href="Transverse_wave" title="Transverse wave">transverse</a> instead of longitudinal, Huygens' theory was replaced by subsequent theories proposed by <a href="James_Clerk_Maxwell" title="James Clerk Maxwell">Maxwell</a>, <a href="Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein">Einstein</a> and <a href="Louis-Victor_de_Broglie" class="mw-redirect" title="Louis-Victor de Broglie">de Broglie</a>, which rejected the existence and necessity of aether to explain the various optical phenomena. These theories were supported by the results of the <a href="Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment" title="Michelson–Morley experiment">Michelson–Morley experiment</a> in which evidence for the motion of aether was conclusively absent.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The results of the experiment influenced many physicists of the time and contributed to the eventual development of Einstein's <a href="Special_relativity" title="Special relativity">theory of special relativity</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Aether_and_gravitation">Aether and gravitation</h3></div>

<p>In 1682, <a href="Jakob_Bernoulli" class="mw-redirect" title="Jakob Bernoulli">Jakob Bernoulli</a> formulated the theory that the hardness of the bodies depended on the pressure of the aether.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

Aether has been used in various gravitational theories as a medium to help explain gravitation and what causes it.

</p>

<p>A few years later, aether was used in one of Sir <a href="Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>'s first published theories of gravitation, <i><a href="Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica" title="Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica">Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica</a></i> (the <i>Principia</i>, 1687). He based the whole description of planetary motions on a theoretical law of dynamic interactions. He renounced standing attempts at accounting for this particular form of interaction between distant bodies by introducing a mechanism of propagation through an intervening medium.<sup id="cite_ref-Rosenfeld1969_27-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Rosenfeld1969-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He calls this intervening medium aether. In his aether model, Newton describes aether as a medium that "flows" continually downward toward the Earth's surface and is partially absorbed and partially diffused. This "circulation" of aether is what he associated the force of gravity with to help explain the action of gravity in a non-mechanical fashion.<sup id="cite_ref-Rosenfeld1969_27-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Rosenfeld1969-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This theory described different aether densities, creating an aether density gradient. His theory also proposed that aether is rarified within objects and dense outside them. As particles of denser aether interact with the rare aether they are attracted back to the dense aether much like cooling vapors of water are attracted back to each other to form water.<sup id="cite_ref-newton1679_28-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-newton1679-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In the <i>Principia</i> he attempts to explain the elasticity and movement of aether by relating aether to his static model of fluids. This elastic interaction is what caused the pull of gravity to take place, according to this early theory, allowing gravity to be explained in terms of action through direct contact instead of action at a distance, which Newton considered "an absurdity".<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Newton also explained this changing rarity and density of aether in his letter to <a href="Robert_Boyle" title="Robert Boyle">Robert Boyle</a> in 1679. He illustrated aether and its field around objects in this letter as well and used this as a way to inform Robert Boyle about his theory.<sup id="cite_ref-newton1679_28-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-newton1679-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although Newton eventually changed his theory of gravitation to one involving force and the laws of motion, his starting point for the modern understanding and explanation of gravity came from his original aether model on gravitation.<sup id="cite_ref-robishaw_30-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-robishaw-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

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<ul><li><a href="Akasha" title="Akasha">Akasha</a></li>

<li><a href="Celestial_spheres" title="Celestial spheres">Celestial spheres</a></li>

<li><a href="Dark_matter" title="Dark matter">Dark matter</a></li>

<li><a href="Energy_(esotericism)" title="Energy (esotericism)">Energy (esotericism)</a></li>

<li><a href="Etheric_body" title="Etheric body">Etheric body</a></li>

<li><a href="Etheric_force" title="Etheric force">Etheric force</a></li>

<li><a href="Etheric_plane" title="Etheric plane">Etheric plane</a></li>

<li><a href="Godai_(Japanese_philosophy)#Void_(Aether)" title="Godai (Japanese philosophy)">Godai (Japanese philosophy) § Void (Aether)</a></li>

<li><a href="Prana" title="Prana">Prana</a></li>

<li><a href="Radiant_energy" title="Radiant energy">Radiant energy</a></li>

<li><a href="The_Void_(philosophy)" title="The Void (philosophy)">The Void (philosophy)</a></li>

<li><a href="Fifth_force" title="Fifth force">Fifth force</a></li></ul>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

<p><b>Footnotes</b>

</p>

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<li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">In a 1675 paper, he also wrote a number of pages speculating that aether may explain how the <a href="Soul" title="Soul">soul</a> interacts with the body.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span>

</li>

</ol></div></div>

<p><b>Citations</b>

</p>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFLloyd1968" class="citation cs2"><a href="G._E._R._Lloyd" title="G. E. R. Lloyd">Lloyd, G. E. R.</a> (1968), <i>Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought</i>, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., pp. <span class="nowrap">133–</span>139, <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-521-09456-9</bdi>, <q>Believing that the movements of the heavenly bodies are continuous, natural and circular, and that the natural movements of the four terrestrial elements are rectilinear and discontinuous, Aristotle concluded that the heavenly bodies must be composed of a fifth element, aither [sic].</q></cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Carl S. Helrich, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=aRpJJXc-LCIC&pg=PA26"><i>The Classical Theory of Fields: Electromagnetism</i></a> Berlin, Springer 2012, p. 26.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHobart2018" class="citation book cs1">Hobart, Michael E. (2018-04-16). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=r7pTDwAAQBAJ&dq=aether+homeric+greek+pure+sky&pg=PT266"><i>The Great Rift: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Religion-Science Divide</i></a>. Harvard University Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-674-98516-2</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Allison Muri, <i>The Enlightenment Cyborg: A History of Communications and Control in the Human Machine, 1660-1830</i>, p. 63, University of Toronto Press, 2007 <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0802088503</bdi>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Aither.html">"AITHER"</a>. <i>AETHER : Greek protogenos god of upper air & light; mythology : AITHER</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">January 16,</span> 2016</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Julius_Pokorny" title="Julius Pokorny">Pokorny, Julius</a> (1959). <a href="Indogermanisches_etymologisches_W%C3%B6rterbuch" title="Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch">Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch</a>, s.v. <i>ai-dh-.</i></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*ai%29qi%2Foy">Αἰθίοψ</a> in Liddell, Scott, <i><a href="A_Greek%E2%80%93English_Lexicon" title="A Greek–English Lexicon">A Greek–English Lexicon</a></i>: "Αἰθίοψ, οπος, ὁ, fem. Αἰθιοπίς, ίδος, ἡ (Αἰθίοψ as fem., A.Fr.328, 329): pl. 'Αἰθιοπῆες' Il.1.423, whence nom. 'Αἰθιοπεύς' Call.Del.208: (αἴθω, ὄψ):— properly, Burnt-face, i.e. Ethiopian, negro, Hom., etc.; prov., Αἰθίοπα σμήχειν 'to wash a blackamoor white', Luc.Ind. 28." Cf. <i><a href="Etymologicum_Genuinum" title="Etymologicum Genuinum">Etymologicum Genuinum</a></i> s.v. <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">Αἰθίοψ</span></span>, <i>Etymologicum Gudianum</i> s.v.v. <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">Αἰθίοψ</span></span>. <cite class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/etymologikontome00etymuoft#page/n34/mode/1up">"Αἰθίοψ"</a>. <i>Etymologicum Magnum</i> (in Greek). Leipzig: Lipsiae Apud J.A.G. Weigel. 1818.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-Fage2526-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Fage2526_8-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFFage2013" class="citation book cs1">Fage, John (2013-10-23). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mXa4AQAAQBAJ"><i>A History of Africa</i></a>. Routledge. pp. <span class="nowrap">25–</span>26. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9781317797272</bdi><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 January</span> 2015</span>. <q>...[Africa's Indian Ocean] coast was called Azania, and no 'Ethiopeans', dark skinned people, were mentioned amongst its inhabitants.</q></cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a>, <i><a href="Timaeus_(dialogue)" title="Timaeus (dialogue)">Timaeus</a></i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=1C8F72843B9D65CB4C634D700A6E694C?doc=Plat.+Tim.+58d">58d</a>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHahm1982" class="citation journal cs1">Hahm, David E. (1982). "The fifth element in Aristotle's <i>De Philosophia</i>: A Critical Re-Examination". <i>The Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>. <b>102</b>: <span class="nowrap">60–</span>74, at p.62. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F631126">10.2307/631126</a>. <a href="JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/631126">631126</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170926485">170926485</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-smoot-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-smoot_11-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGeorge_Smoot_III" class="citation web cs1">George Smoot III. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://aether.lbl.gov/www/classes/p10/aristotle-physics.html">"Aristotle's Physics"</a>. <i>lbl.gov</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161220230803/http://aether.lbl.gov/www/classes/p10/aristotle-physics.html">Archived</a> from the original on 20 December 2016<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 December</span> 2016</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGrant1996" class="citation book cs1">Grant, Edward (1996). <i>Planets, Stars, & Orbs: The Medieval Cosmos, 1200-1687</i> (1st pbk. ed.). Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">322–</span>428. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-521-56509-7</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Robert Fludd, "Mosaical Philosophy". London, Humphrey Moseley, 1659, p. 221.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-TheAlchemists-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-TheAlchemists_14-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-TheAlchemists_14-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>The Alchemists</i>, F. Sherwood Taylor, page 95.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/quintessence.htm"><i>The book of Quintessence</i></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150924110119/http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/quintessence.htm">Archived</a> 2015-09-24 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, Early English Text Society original series number 16, edited by F. J. Furnivall.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>The Dictionary of Alchemy</i>, Mark Haeffner.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Margaret Osler, <i>Reconfiguring the World.</i> The Johns Hopkins University Press 2010. (155).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGillispie1960" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Charles_Coulston_Gillispie" title="Charles Coulston Gillispie">Gillispie, Charles Coulston</a> (1960). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/edgeofobjectivit00char"><i>The Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas</i></a>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">129–</span>30. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-691-02350-6</bdi>.</cite> <span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite book}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment">ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)</span></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Einstein, Albert: "Ether and the Theory of Relativity" (1920), republished in Sidelights on Relativity (Methuen, London, 1922)</span>

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<li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFDirac1951" class="citation journal cs1">Dirac, Paul (1951). "Is there an Aether?". <i>Nature</i>. <b>168</b> (4282): <span class="nowrap">906–</span>907. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1951Natur.168..906D">1951Natur.168..906D</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F168906a0">10.1038/168906a0</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4288946">4288946</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFZlatevWangSteinhardt1999" class="citation journal cs1">Zlatev, I.; Wang, L.; Steinhardt, P. (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://cds.cern.ch/record/358722">"Quintessence, Cosmic Coincidence, and the Cosmological Constant"</a>. <i>Physical Review Letters</i> (Submitted manuscript). <b>82</b> (5): <span class="nowrap">896–</span>899. <a href="ArXiv_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ArXiv (identifier)">arXiv</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9807002">astro-ph/9807002</a></span>. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PhRvL..82..896Z">1999PhRvL..82..896Z</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.82.896">10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.896</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:119073006">119073006</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="E._T._Whittaker" title="E. T. Whittaker">Whittaker, Edmund Taylor</a>, <i><a href="A_History_of_the_Theories_of_Aether_and_Electricity" title="A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity">A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity from the Age of Descartes to the Close of the 19th Century</a></i> (1910), pp. 101-02.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMichelson1881" class="citation journal cs1">Michelson, Albert A. (1881). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://zenodo.org/record/1450060">"The Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether"</a>. <i>American Journal of Science</i>. <b>22</b> (128): <span class="nowrap">120–</span>129. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1881AmJS...22..120M">1881AmJS...22..120M</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2475%2Fajs.s3-22.128.120">10.2475/ajs.s3-22.128.120</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:130423116">130423116</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFShankland1964" class="citation journal cs1">Shankland, R. S. (1964). "Michelson-Morley Experiment". <i>American Journal of Physics</i>. <b>32</b> (1): 16. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1964AmJPh..32...16S">1964AmJPh..32...16S</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1119%2F1.1970063">10.1119/1.1970063</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bernoulli">"Bernoulli nell'Enciclopedia Treccani"</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Rosenfeld1969-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Rosenfeld1969_27-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Rosenfeld1969_27-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFRosenfeld1969" class="citation journal cs1">Rosenfeld, L. (1969). "Newton's views on aether and gravitation". <i>Archive for History of Exact Sciences</i>. <b>6</b> (1): <span class="nowrap">29–</span>37. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00327261">10.1007/BF00327261</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:122494617">122494617</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-newton1679-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-newton1679_28-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-newton1679_28-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFJames_DeMeo2009" class="citation web cs1">James DeMeo, ed. (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.orgonelab.org/newtonletter.htm">"Isaac Newton's Letter to Robert Boyle, on the Cosmic Ether of Space - 1679"</a>. <i>orgonelab.org</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161220231449/http://www.orgonelab.org/newtonletter.htm">Archived</a> from the original on 20 December 2016<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 January</span> 2025</span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBerkovitz2008" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">Berkovitz, Joseph (2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/qm-action-distance/#ActDisCoExiNonSepHol">"Action at a Distance in Quantum Mechanics"</a>. In Edward N. Zalta (ed.). <i>The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</i> (Winter 2008 ed.)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 January</span> 2025</span>. <q>[action at a distance] is to me so great an Absurdity that I believe no Man who has in philosophical Matters a competent Faculty of thinking can ever fall into it. — Isaac Newton, Letters to Bentley, 1692/3</q></cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-robishaw-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-robishaw_30-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFAndrew_Robishaw2015" class="citation book cs1">Andrew Robishaw (9 April 2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=KkS9CQAAQBAJ&q=newton+robert+boyle+aether&pg=PA6"><i>The Esoteric Codex: Esoteric Cosmology</i></a>. Lulu.com. p. 6. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9781329053083</bdi><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 December</span> 2016</span>.</cite></span>

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