Researched
Michelson-Morley Experiment
Their interferometer finds no sign of an 'ether wind' (1887), a puzzle that Einstein's relativity resolves.
Open in the interactive tree →Albert Michelson and Edward Morley expected Earth's motion through the light-carrying ether to change the measured speed of light and found no effect. The null result and Maxwell's equations led Lorentz and Einstein to a constant speed of light, and the same interferometer principle detects gravitational waves today.
Prerequisites
- Wave Optics (Young, Fresnel)1801
- Electromagnetism1831-1865
Unlocks
- Theory of Relativity1905The ether null result was a key puzzle that special relativity resolved
- Gravitational Waves Detected2015LIGO is a giant Michelson interferometer