Albert Abraham Michelson (1852 - 1931) was an American physicist renowned for his exact measurements of the speed of light and for his pioneering work in optical interferometry. In 1907 he became the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in the sciences, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his precision optical instruments and the investigations carried out with them.[1]
Early life
Michelson was born on 19 December 1852 in Strzelno, in the Prussian province of Posen, now part of Poland. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a child, settling in mining communities of the American West. He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, from which he graduated in 1873.[2]
Career
After serving as an instructor at the Naval Academy, Michelson pursued advanced study in Europe, including work at the University of Berlin. He later held professorships at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland and at Clark University, and in 1892 he became the first head of the physics department at the newly founded University of Chicago.[2] Throughout his career he refined instruments for measuring light with extraordinary accuracy, developing the interferometer that bears his name.
The Michelson-Morley experiment
In 1887, working with the chemist Edward Morley, Michelson conducted one of the most influential experiments in the history of physics. Using an interferometer, the pair attempted to detect the motion of the Earth through the luminiferous aether, the hypothetical medium then believed to carry light waves. Their apparatus found no evidence of such motion.[3]
Legacy
Michelson continued to measure the speed of light with increasing precision for the rest of his life, including experiments carried out over long distances in Southern California. For his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with them, he was awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics.[1] He also received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society and the Franklin Medal, among many other honours. He died in Pasadena, California, on 9 May 1931.
