Comment by zoogeny

That reminds me of a throwaway line in a YouTube video with Sir Roger Penrose. He insinuated that Lord Kelvin had been pushing an idea of vortices as an explanation for early evidence of atoms [1]. However, this had suffered a few blows including Rutherford's shell model of the atom alongside the lack of evidence for a suitable fluid-like substance (aether).

Now that we are more-or-less entrenched in the mathematical model of fields, I wonder if anyone is considering vortices within those fields as a possible explanation for observed behavior.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_theory_of_the_atom