Ritz ballistic theory is a theory in physics, first published in 1908 by Swiss physicist Walther Ritz. In 1908, Ritz published Recherches critiques sur l'Électrodynamique générale, a lengthy criticism of Maxwell-Lorentz electromagnetic theory, in which he contended that the theory's connection with the luminiferous aether (see Lorentz ether theory) made it "essentially inappropriate to express the comprehensive laws for the propagation of electrodynamic actions."