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The timeline of luminiferous aether (light bearing aether) or ether as a medium for propagating electromagnetic radiation begins in the 18th century. The aether was assumed to exist for much of the 19th century—until the Michelson–Morley experiment returned its famous null result. Further experiments were in general agreement with Michelson and Morley's result. By the 1920s, most scientists rejected the aether's existence.

4th century BC – Aristotle publishes Physics, in which the aether is briefly described as being an element lighter than air that surrounds celestial bodies. He describes the aether in relation to other elements aether is lighter than air and is located above it, whereas air is lighter than water, and water is lighter than earth. In Aristotle's view, each element returns to its proper place when displaced, which explains why air rises, why earth and water fall, and why the heavens remain in place.

17th century: Robert Boyle was a proponent of an aether hypothesis. According to Boyle, the aether consists of subtle particles, one sort of which explains the absence of vacuum and the mechanical interactions between bodies, and the other sort of which explains phenomena such as magnetism (and possibly gravity) that are, otherwise, inexplicable on the basis of purely mechanical interactions of macroscopic bodies. 1690 Christiaan Huygens's Treatise on Light hypothesized that light is a wave propagating through an aether. 1704 – Isaac Newton publishes Opticks, in which he proposes a particle theory of light. This had trouble explaining diffraction, so he adds a "fudge factor," claiming that an "Aethereal Medium" is responsible for this effect, and going further to suggest it might be responsible for other physical effects such as heat. 1727 – James Bradley measures stellar aberration for the first time, proving (again) that light has a finite speed as well as that the Earth is moving. 1818 – Augustin Fresnel introduces the wave theory of light, which proposes light is a transverse wave travelling in an aether, thereby explaining how polarization can exist. It is important to note that both Newton's particle theory and Fresnel's wave theory both assume an aether exists, albeit for different reasons. From this point on, no one even seems to question its existence. 1820 – Discovery of Siméon Poisson's "Bright Spot", supporting the Wave Theory. 1830 – Fresnel develops a formula for predicting and measuring aether dragging by massive objects, based on a coupling constant. Such dragging seems to be at odds with aberration however, which would require the Earth not to drag the aether in order to be visible. George Gabriel Stokes becomes a champion of the dragging theory. 1851 – Armand Fizeau carries out his famous experiment with light travelling through moving water. He measures fringing due to motion of the water, perfectly in line with Fresnel's formula. However he sees no effect due to the motion of the Earth, although he does not comment on this. Nevertheless this is seen as very strong evidence for aether dragging. 1868 – Martinus Hoek carries out an improved version of Fizeau's using an interferometer experiment with one arm in water. He sees no effect at all, and cannot offer an explanation as to why his experiment is so at odds with Fizeau's. 1871 – George Biddell Airy re runs Bradley's experiment with a telescope filled with water. He too sees no effect. It appears that aether is not dragged by mass. 1873 – James Clerk Maxwell publishes his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. 1879 – Maxwell suggests absolute velocity of Earth in aether may be optically detectable. 1881 – Albert Abraham Michelson publishes his first interferometer experiments, using the device for the measurement of extremely small distances. To Michelson's dismay, his experiment finds no "ether drag" slowing light, as had been suggested by Fresnel. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz finds Michelson's calculation have errors (i. e., doubling of the expected fringe shift error). 1882 – Michelson acknowledges his interpretation errors.