Albert A. Michelson

Albert A. Michelson was an American physicist whose precision optical measurements established new standards for determining the speed of light. He shared the Michelson–Morley experiment and received the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Michelson interferometer: An optical instrument that splits a beam of light into separate paths and recombines them to produce interference fringes. Michelson developed this instrument to compare light paths with exceptional precision.
United States Naval Academy: A federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland, that educates and commissions officers for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Michelson taught physics and chemistry there after graduating in 1873.
Edward Morley: An American chemist and physicist who collaborated with Michelson on the 1887 aether-drift experiment. Morley shared the experimental work behind the result most closely associated with Michelson.
Nobel Prize in Physics: An annual international award recognizing outstanding contributions to physics. Michelson received the 1907 prize for his optical precision instruments and investigations.
Michelson–Morley experiment: A 1887 interferometry experiment that searched for motion through the hypothesized luminiferous aether and found no detectable effect. Michelson and Edward Morley used interferometry to test whether Earth’s motion changed light’s travel time.
Simon Newcomb: A Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician known for work on celestial mechanics and astronomical constants. Newcomb’s measurements of light’s speed helped shape Michelson’s early research program.
Francis G. Pease: An American astronomer and optical engineer who worked with Michelson on precision astronomical measurements. Pease collaborated with Michelson on stellar interferometry and large optical instruments.
Special relativity: Einstein’s 1905 theory describing space and time for observers in inertial motion, with the speed of light invariant. The Michelson–Morley result became a landmark in the history of tests concerning light and motion.
Interference (wave propagation): The superposition of waves that produces reinforcement or cancellation according to their relative phase. Interference fringes made small optical path differences visible in Michelson’s instruments.
Hermann von Helmholtz: A German physicist and physician whose work ranged across energy, optics, acoustics, and physiology. Michelson studied with Helmholtz in Berlin, where he refined his approach to experimental physics.

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