Chapter 3 Relativity and the Absolute

"IS SPACETIME AND EINSTEINIAN ABSTRACTION OR A PHYSICAL REALITY?"
In the early twentieth century  Albert Einstein made two very important discoveries, but he built on the work of others. James Maxwell's work in equations regarding light, is what allowed Einstein to do his work. But before Maxwell, there was Micheal Faraday. It was upon Faraday's work that the Maxwell equations were developed. Arguably the most important contribution to Einstein's work made by Faraday was that of the concept of a field. A field of electromagnetism. Which can be easily demonstrated using a simple magnet and iron filings to produce an image like this:

The connection between the magnetic and electric fields that was proven by Faraday was originally discovered by Hans Oersted (a Danish physicist). Today electromagnetic fields are used everywhere, from the wifi in your home, to the cellphone in your pocket, to the wires in your walls. But Maxwell's contributions do not end there, through his equations he found that the speed of light is precisely 670 million miles per hour, which is the same value as the speed of light, and he concluded that light must be nothing more than another electromagnetic wave. Despite realizing that the light is just another electromagnetic wave, and finding its speed the number is meaningless. This is because without knowing with respect to what object or medium the light is traveling through the speed of the wave is not as useful. Physicists at the time compared electromagnetic waves to other kinds of waves, like sound waves and waves in the ocean, and surmised that the speed would be measured in relation to that of the medium through which the object is traveling. It was accepted that Maxwell's equations used the "perspective of someone at rest with respect to the aether."