3.1.1 Lorentz Theory
In 1892, Hendrik Lorentz (1853-1928) assumed the existence of electrons separate from the aether, which he supposed as completely motionless and not dragged by matter. An important consequence of this notion was that the velocity of light becomes totally independent of the velocity of the source. He calculated the contraction of the electrostatic fields, by introducing what he called the “Theorem of Corresponding States” which states that an observer moving relative to the aether makes the same observations as an observer at rest, which eventually led to the Lorentz transformations. According to this concept of local time, Lorentz was able to explain the aberration of light, Doppler effect and Fizeau experiment which seemingly supported the partial aether-drag hypothesis of Fresnel.
Lorentz, however, gave no statements about the mechanical nature of the aether and the electromagnetic processes, but, vice versa, tried to explain the mechanical processes by electromagnetic ones, and therefore created an abstract electromagnetic aether. However, Lorentz recognized that his theory violated the third law of Newton; the principle of action and reaction, because matter cannot act on the aether.
Other similar models tried to create alternative electrodynamics, led by various physicists such as Joseph Larmor (1857-1942) and Emil Cohn (1854-1944), but these models were inconsistent and they were subsequently superseded by Lorentz and Einstein.