A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity.pdf

A Ridiculously Brief History of Electricity and ism
Mostly from E. T. Whittaker’s
A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity...
900 BC - Magnus, a Greek shepherd, walks across a field of black stones which pull the iron nails out
of his sandals and the iron tip from his shepherd’s staff(authenticity not guaranteed). This region es
known as Magnesia.
600 BC - Thales of Miletos rubs amber (elektron in Greek) with cat fur and picks up bits of feathers.
1269 - Petrus Peregrinus of Picardy, Italy, discovers that natural spherical s (lodestones) align
needles with lines of longitude pointing between two pole positions on the stone.
1600 - William Gilbert, court physician to Queen Elizabeth, discovers that the earth is a giant
just like one of the stones of Peregrinus, explaining passes work. He also discusses static electricity
and invents an electric fluid which is liberated by rubbing.
ca. 1620 - olo Cabeo discovers that electricity can be repulsive as well as attractive.
1630 - Vincenzo Cascariolo, a Bolognese shoemaker, discovers fluorescence.
1638 - Rene Descartes theorizes that light is a pressure wave through the second of his three types of
matter of which the universe is made. He invents properties of this fluid that make it possible to calculate
the reflection and refraction of light. The “modern” notion of the aether is born.
1638 - Galileo attempts to measure the speed of light by a lantern relay between distant hilltops. He
gets a very large answer.
1644 - Rene Descartes theorizes that the ic poles are on the central axis of a spinning vortex of
one of his fluids. This vortex theory remains popular for a long time, enabling Leonhard Euler and two of
the Bernoullis to share a prize of the French Academy as late as 1743.
1657 - Pierre de Fermat shows that the principle of least time is capable of explaining refraction
and reflection of light. Fighting with the Cartesians begins. (This principle for reflected light had been
a