Space-time is Aether I
| Article | |
|---|---|
| Title | Space-time is Aether I |
| Author(s) | Glenn Borchardt |
| Published in | The Scientific Worldview |
| Date | 2026-03-30 |
| Subject area | Physics |
| Topics | aether, Einstein, gravity, relativity |
Read online | Read the full article |
Archived copy | Archived version |
| Retrieved | 2026-07-23 |
"Space-time is Aether I" is an article by Glenn Borchardt published on 30 March 2026 on his blog The Scientific Worldview. It is the first of a two-part piece arguing that what relativity calls space-time is the aether under a different name, and that physics abandoned the medium for mathematical convenience rather than for empirical reasons.
Borchardt's case turns on Einstein's own retreat. He points out that Einstein publicly recanted his denial of the aether in 1920 — allowing that "we may assume its existence but not ascribe a definite state of motion to it" — and argues that mainstream physics has quietly ignored the recantation ever since. In its place, he holds, the discipline adopted perfectly empty space and then required a succession of ad hoc assumptions to keep light behaving as a particle in a vacuum that offers nothing to carry it. He proposes instead an "aetherosphere" of high-velocity aether particles accumulating around matter, producing gravitational effects by collision, and cites the Sagnac and de Sitter results together with Edward Dowdye's plasma-refraction account of starlight bending.
The article is part of Borchardt's broader argument that modern physics has become regressive, substituting mathematical description for physical causation.
Read the full article at The Scientific Worldview →