Michelson-Morley experiment
Experimento de Michelson-Morley: no se detecta el éter
- Date
- 1887 · confidence high
- Place
- Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
- Credited to
- Albert A. Michelson; Edward W. Morley
- People
- 👤 Albert Abraham Michelson1852–1931👤 Edward Morley1838–1923
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
A highly precise interferometer detects no difference in the speed of light depending on the direction of the Earth's motion: the 'aether wind' does not exist. It is the most famous null result in physics and a precursor to relativity.
Michelson considered the experiment a failure; Einstein stated it had little direct influence on his 1905 work.
What it led to
- Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction
- Special relativity
- Precision interferometry (LIGO)
- Abandonment of the luminiferous aether
Built on
- Maxwell's electromagnetic wave
- Bradley's stellar aberration
- Fizeau's drag experiment
Made possible
- Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction1889 (FitzGerald) / 1892 (Lorentz)
- Lorentz transformation1904
- Special relativity1905
- Michelson interferometer
- Optical metrology