WI: Maxwell abandons aether theory

Well, the fact that a theory is complex and unwieldy is no reason to abandon it, unless a simpler more elegant theory can (at least) equally well explain the observations. And Maxwell did not have such an alternate theory (nor did anyone else).

A good many of the scientists of the day were unhappy about the aether theory, (it was getting very frayed at the edges, so to speak), but , until Einstein came along, no-one could suggest a more elegant alternative.

So, I suggest, Maxwell (and his contemporaries) will stick with aether, unless Maxwell (or someone else) can some up with Einsteins work a couple of generations earlier.
 
Electromagnetic waves are, well, waves. And waves need a medium to travel in, obviously. Sound waves in air, water waves in water, etc., etc. While it turns out the 'obvious' answer was wrong, why on earth would Maxwell have abandoned it. It wasnt until the Mitchison-Morley (sp?)experiment that there was any good reason to doubt the existence of some sort of æther.
 
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