No abstract

No abstract

The "absolute space-time theory", so-called by its author, (Marinov, 1975) seems to be of questionable consistency and represents an attempt to reconcile profoundly distinct and hardly reconcilable Newtonian and Lorentzian concepts. Although making reference to "classical physics," the treatment appears to be untenable from the viewpoint of both major classical theories -Newtonian mechanics and Lorentzian electrodynamics -and reveals a neglect of certain historical facts. The following items are to justify this adverse criticism and to clarify some relevant features of the classical theories.(i) Newtonian absolute space and Lorentzian stationary aether are fundamentally different and cannot be substituted one for the other, although it is assumed that the aether is at rest relative to absolute space (Painlev~, 1922, pp. 8t-104). Newton (Principles, Scholium, pp. 6-12)introduced the concept of absolute space to take into account the absolute character of accelerations, but at the same time preserve the relative character of velocities and the socalled "classical principle of relativity" described earlier by Galileo in picturesque terms. Lorentz adopted the stationary aether as a medium for electromagnetic phenomena, in particular to account for the (wave) propagation of light. Newton (Opticks,) discussed some old aether concepts, and the one acceptable to him appears to be different from Lorentz's aether as well as from most of the nineteenth century aether concepts

No abstract