THE FOUNDATIONS OF RELATIVITY
Cheryl Knox Thornhill · 2007
Maxwell’s equations were, and still are, derived for a uniform stationary ether and are not, therefore, the general equations of electromagnetism. The true general equations, for an ether in general motion, have been derived and given in the literature for many years but are continually ignored. Here, a further attempt is made to bring home irrefutably the mathematics which negates the concepts of no-ether and non-Newtonian relativity. Alternative derivations of the general equations of electromagnetism are given in the simplest possible terms, from basic principles. It is shown that the mathematical techniques required are exactly the same as those which were used to derive the general equations of fluid motion, long before the advent of Maxwell’s equations. All these fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no nearer to answer the question, ’What are light quanta? ’ Nowadays every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he knows it, but he is mistaken. Albert Einstein, 1951 To agree with everything or to agree with nothing are two easy positions because each allows one to avoid making up one’s own mind.