As the 19th century came to a close, physicists were feeling pretty satisfied with the state of their science. The great edifice of physical theory seemed complete. A few minor experiments remained to ...

In the late 1800s, no one knew what light was. Everyone knew it behaved like a wave some of the time, but all waves need to travel through some propagation medium. This propagation medium was called ...

“…upon this simple system of many colors is based the manifold and infinitely varied investigation of all things.” —Zosimos of Panopolis (ca. 250 CE ...

Brendan Foster describes renewed interest in the luminiferous aether (2 November, p 32). For all its shortcomings, the aether was one of the most productive scientific ideas of all time. Many ...

We live in a world of shadows. We live amidst unseen forces that influence the universe even as we are blind to their presence. In other words, we live amidst ghosts. More importantly, what does it ...

LIGO announced today that they have detected gravitational waves from a black hole merger. If verified it will be the ultimate confirmation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. But what are ...

(via PBS Space Time) As the 19th century came to a close, physicists were feeling pretty satisfied with the state of their science. The great edifice of physical theory seemed complete. A few minor ...