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Aether (also spelled '''ether'''), the '''Void''', is a concept, historically, used in Science (as a Medium ) and in Philosophy (as a Substance ). The ''aether'' was believed to be the substance which filled all of space. Aristotle included it as a fifth Element on the principle that nature abhorred a Vacuum . Aether was also called '''quintessence''' (from ''quinta essentia'', "fifth element"). MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGINS The word ''aether'' () in Homeric Greek means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky", imagined in Greek Mythology to be the pure essence where the gods lived and which they breathed, analogous to the '' Aer '' breathed by mortals (also personified as a deity, Aether , the son of Erebus and Nyx ). It corresponds to the concept of '' Akasha '' in Hindu philosophy. It is derived from "to incinerate", also intransitive "to burn, to shine" (related is the name ''Aithiopes'' ( Ethiopia ns), meaning "people with a burnt (black) visage". See also Empyrean . FIFTH ELEMENT It was only Aristotle who included it into the system of the Classical Element s of Ionic Philosophy as the "fifth element" (the ''quintessence''), on the principle that nature abhorred a Vacuum . Oliver Nicholson points out that, in contrast to the better known Luminiferous Aether of the 19th Century , the older concept of the classical aether had three properties. Among these characteristics, the classical aether had a non-material property, was "less than the vehicle of visible light", and was responsible for "generating metals" along with fostering the development of all bodies.Oliver Nicholson, "Tesla's self-sustaining electrical generator", The historical ether. Proceedings of the Tesla Centenial Symposium, 1984. Robert Fludd stated that the aether was of the character that it was "''subtler than light''". Fludd cites the 3rd Century view of Plotinus , concerning the aether as penetrative and non-material.Robert Fludd, "Mosaical Philosophy". London, Humphrey Moseley, 1659. Pg 221. LEGACY See Also: Aether theories Modern understanding of Electromagnetism and, especially, the various scientific experiments of General Relativity has Removed the need for a substance like aether to fill the otherwise empty parts of the universe. Newton's and Maxwell's Aether Model (the latter being a "''classic static aether''") were both developed from this classical element. However, the Null Result of the Michelson-Morley Experiment led (from 1887 onwards) to the decline of an aether model's wide acceptance. Albert Einstein, in an interpretation he offered for his theory of special relativity, dismissed it, as per Occam's Razor ; and, though he later reinstated a logical need for an aether in a commentary on his theory of general relativity, ''most'' modern thoeries do not include this classical element. REFERENCES General
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