Later in the 18th century aberration became important in the development of the wave theory of light, which (in its early form) postulated that light is a wave propagating through a medium known as the luminiferous aether, much like sound waves propagate through air.
Later in the 18th century aberration became important in the development of the wave theory of light, which was in competition with Newton's corpuscular (or emission) theory of light. In its early form, the wave theory postulated that light is a wave propagating through a medium known as the luminiferous aether, much like sound waves propagate through air.