CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS VOL. 39, NO. 3 JUNE 2001

First Proposal of the Universal Speed of Light by Voigt in 1887

Andreas Ernst$^\dagger$ and Jong-Ping Hsu

Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

North Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300, USA
(Received February 19, 2001)

Voigt discussed Doppler's effect on the basis of the universal speed of light and the invariance of the wave equation in 1887. He was very close to suggesting a conceptual framework for special relativity. Historical remarks and discussions are made on Voigt's paper and a translation of his short paper with modern notation is also included.

PACS. 11.30.Cp - Lorentz and Poincare invariance.

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