Views of some great scientists about the structure of matter

After the ancient Greeks, R. Descartes (1596–1650) raised the question of the matter existence, completely filling the en-tire space and responsible for the transmission of light waves. He explained the formation of matter and planets, in particular, by the property of the ether vortices, consisting of many large particles.

I. Newton (1643–1727) considered it possible to derive all other phenomena of nature from the beginnings of mechanics, believing that all these phenomena are caused by certain forces with which particles of bodies, due to causes "while unknown", either tend to each other and interlock in proper figures, or mutually repel and move away from each other. Light can trans-form into a substance and back.

M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765) rejected all specific types of matter and recognized only the ether.

M. Faraday (1791–1867) imagined the "world ether" as a complex of certain lines of force. He categorically denied the possibility of acting at a distance through emptiness.

J.K. Maxwell (1831–1879) in his studies draws a conclusion about the distribution of perturbations from point to point in the world ether. Maxwell mentions the ether as a fluid and derives his equations based on the ideas of Helmholtz, Rankin and other hydrodynamicists about the motion of vortices in the ideal liquid medium.

W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin, 1824–1907) proposed several models of the ether. He made assumptions about the speed of the ether as a magnetic flux and about the speed of the ether rotation as the value of the dielectric displacement. He also showed that if the ether is a perfect incompressible fluid without friction, then the atoms are the Helmholtz toroidal rings.

School of J.J. Thomson (1856–1940) continued this line. J.J. Thomson consistently developed the vortex theory of matter and interaction. On the basis of the vortex theory of the ether he showed in 1903 that E=mc².

Thus, Lord Kelvin and J.J. Thomson considered a unified matter – the Ether. Different types of its manifestation were associated with various forms of its kinetic motion.

D.I. Mendeleev (1834–1907) tried to determine the chemical properties of the ether. His ether was included in the table of chemical elements in the «zero line» under the name «newtonian».

N.E. Zhukovsky (1847–1921) also adhered to the position of the existence of the ether. He tried to obtain the Maxwell equations from a mechanical model. He wrote: «I am convinced that the problems of enormous speeds, the basic problems of the electromagnetic theory will be solved with the help of the old mechanics of Galileo and Newton.»

K.E. Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935): «I do not agree with those scientists who despaired to explain the phenomenon of nature by mechanical means. It seems to me that the newest path of the scientific research will not last long: they will again turn to the mechanical fundamentals.»

Of particular note is the Soviet academician V.F. Mitkevich (1872–1951). He defended the need to recognize the existence of the ether and the mechanical point of view on the ether. His books «Basic physical views» and «Magnetic flux and its transformations» are still relevant.