Albert A. Michelson - Revision history

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 * [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
 * [[List of United States Naval Academy alumni#Nobel laureates|List of Naval Academy Nobel Laureates]]
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{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with the athlete [[Albert Michelsen]].}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Albert A. Michelson
| image = Albert Abraham Michelson2.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1852|12|19}}
| birth_place = [[Strzelno]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]] (modern [[Poland]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1931|5|9|1852|12|19}}
| death_place = [[Pasadena, California]]
| nationality = United States
| field = [[Physics]]
| workplaces = [[Case Western Reserve University]] [[Clark University]] [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[United States Naval Academy]] [[University of Berlin]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[Hermann Helmholtz]]<ref>Physics Tree profile [http://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=237 Albert Abraham Michelson]</ref> [[Marie Alfred Cornu|Alfred Cornu]]
| doctoral_students = [[Robert Millikan]]
| known_for = [[Speed of light]] [[Michelson–Morley experiment]]
| prizes = [[Matteucci Medal]] (1903) [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1907) [[Copley Medal]] (1907) [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1912) [[Henry Draper Medal]] (1916) [[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] {{small|(1920)}} [[Franklin Medal]] (1923) [[Duddell Medal and Prize]] (1929)
| signature = Albert A Michelson Signature.svg
|spouse=Margaret Hemingway (1877–1898; divorced; 3 children) Edna Stanton (1899–1931; his death; 3 children)
}}

'''Albert Abraham Michelson''' (surname pronunciation anglicized as "Michael-son", December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931) was an American [[physicist]] known for his work on the measurement of the [[speed of light]] and especially for the [[Michelson–Morley experiment]]. In 1907 he received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]. He became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in sciences.

==Biography==
Michelson was born in [[Strzelno]], [[Province of Posen]] in [[Prussia]] (now Poland) into a Jewish family.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aip.org/history/exhibits/gap/Michelson/Michelson.html |title=Albert Abraham Michelson 1852–1931|publisher=American Institute of Physics}}</ref> He moved to the US with his parents in 1855, at the age of two. He grew up in the mining towns of [[Murphys, California|Murphy's Camp]], California and [[Virginia City, Nevada]], where his father was a merchant. His family was Jewish by birth but non-religious, and Michelson himself was a lifelong agnostic.<ref>{{cite book|last=Naukowe|first=Łódzkie|title=Bulletin de la Société des sciences et des lettres de Łódź: Série, Recherches sur les déformations, Volumes 39–42|date=2003|publisher=Société des sciences et des lettres de Łódź|page=162|quote=Michelson's biographers stress, that our hero was not conspicuous by religiousness. His father was a free-thinker and Michelson grew up in non-religious family and have no opportunity to acknowledge the belief of his forebears. He was agnostic through his whole life and only for the short period he was a member of the 21st lodge in Washington.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas About the Origins of the Universe|date=2002|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-0-375-72609-5|author=John D. Barrow|page=136|quote=Morley was deeply religious. His original training had been in theology and he only turned to chemistry, a self-taught hobby, when he was unable to enter the ministry. Michelson, by contrast, was a religious agnostic.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Master of Light: A Biography of Albert A. Michelson|publisher=University of Chicago Press|author=1984|author2=Dorothy Michelson Livingston|author3=One Pass Productions|author4=Cinema Guild|page=106|quote=On the religious question, Michelson disagreed with both these men. He had renounced any belief that moral issues were at stake in ...}}</ref> He spent his high school years in San Francisco in the home of his aunt, Henriette Levy (née Michelson), who was the mother of author [[Harriet Lane Levy]].<ref name="Levy-47">Levy, ''920 O'Farrell Street'', 47.</ref>

President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] awarded Michelson a special appointment to the [[U.S. Naval Academy]] in 1869.<ref>[http://www.usna.edu/LibExhibits/collections/michelson/ Nimitz Library's Virtual Exhibits – LibExhibits]</ref> During his four years as a [[midshipman]] at the Academy, Michelson excelled in [[optics]], heat, [[climatology]] and drawing. After graduating in 1873 and two years at sea, he returned to the Naval Academy in 1875 to become an instructor in [[physics]] and [[chemistry]] until 1879. In 1879, he was posted to the Nautical Almanac Office, Washington (part of the [[United States Naval Observatory]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002JAHH....5..165S|title=Nineteenth century astronomy at the U.S. Naval Academy | bibcode=2002JAHH....5..165S}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/about-us/usno-command-history|title=USNO - Our Command History|publisher=}}</ref><ref>http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/4957/1/4957_Shankland%26Orchiston_2002.pdf</ref>), to work with [[Simon Newcomb]]. In the following year he obtained leave of absence to continue his studies in Europe. He visited the Universities of [[University of Berlin|Berlin]] and [[University of Heidelberg|Heidelberg]], and the [[Collège de France]] and [[École Polytechnique]] in Paris.

In 1877, he married Margaret Hemingway, daughter of a wealthy New York stockbroker and lawyer. They had two sons and a daughter.<ref>James, I. (2009). Driven to Innovate: A Century of Jewish Mathematicians and Physicists p. 101. {{ISBN|978-1-906165-22-2|date=April 2017}}. "In 1877, he married Margaret Hemingway, daughter of a wealthy New York stockbroker and lawyer. This marriage lasted twenty years and produced two sons and a daughter."</ref>

Michelson was fascinated with the sciences, and the problem of measuring the [[speed of light]] in particular. While at [[Annapolis]], he conducted his first [[Michelson–Morley experiment|experiments]] of the [[speed of light]], as part of a class demonstration in 1877. His Annapolis experiment was refined, and in 1879, he measured the speed of light in air to be 299,864 ± 51 kilometres per second, and estimated the speed of light in vacuum as 299,940 km/s, or 186,380 mi/s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raman-scattering.eu/raman/texts/009_menu_vitesse.php|title=raman-scattering.eu|publisher=}}{{failed verification|date=January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opticsinfobase.org/on/abstract.cfm?uri=on-4-4-14|title=Optics at the U.S. Naval Academy|publisher=Optical Society of America}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sas.uwaterloo.ca/~rwoldfor/papers/sci-method/paperrev/node6.html|title=Michelson's 1879 determinations of the speed of light|publisher=Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo (Canada)}}</ref> After two years of studies in Europe, he resigned from the [[United States Navy|Navy]] in 1881. In 1883 he accepted a position as professor of physics at the [[Case Western Reserve University|Case School of Applied Science]] in [[Cleveland]], Ohio and concentrated on developing an improved [[interferometer]]. In 1887 he and [[Edward Morley]] carried out the famous [[Michelson–Morley experiment]] which failed to detect evidence of the existence of the [[luminiferous ether]]. He later moved on to use [[astronomical interferometer]]s in the measurement of stellar diameters and in measuring the separations of binary stars.

In 1889 Michelson became a professor at [[Clark University]] at [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]], [[Massachusetts]] and in 1892 was appointed professor and the first head of the department of physics at the newly organized [[University of Chicago]].

In 1899, he married Edna Stanton. They raised one son and three daughters.

In 1907, Michelson had the honor of being the first American to receive a [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid". He also won the [[Copley Medal]] in 1907, the [[Henry Draper Medal]] in 1916 and the [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1923. A [[Impact crater|crater]] on the [[Moon]] is named after him.

Michelson died in [[Pasadena, California]] at the age of 78. The University of Chicago Residence Halls remembered Michelson and his achievements by dedicating 'Michelson House' in his honor. Case Western Reserve has dedicated a Michelson House to him, and Michelson Hall (an academic building of science classrooms, laboratories and offices) at the [[United States Naval Academy]] also bears his name. Clark University named a theatre after him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clarku.edu/departments/clarkarts/facilities/littlecenter.cfm|title=Visual and Performing Arts - Little Center |publisher=Clark University}}</ref> Michelson Laboratory at [[Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake]] in Ridgecrest, California is named for him. There is a display in the publicly accessible area of the Lab which includes facsimiles of Michelson's Nobel Prize medal, the prize document, and examples of his diffraction gratings.

==Speed of light==
{{refimprove section|date=May 2017}}
[[File:Michelson - Experimental Determination of the Speed of Light, p 1.jpg|thumb|210px|Page one of Michelson's ''Experimental Determination of the Velocity of Light'']]
[[File:Michelson - Experimental Determination of the Speed of Light, conclusion.jpg|thumb|210px|Concluding page of Michelson's ''Experimental Determination of the Velocity of Light'']]

===Early measurements===
As early as 1869, while still serving as an officer in the [[United States Navy]], Michelson started planning a repeat of the rotating-mirror method of [[Léon Foucault]] for measuring the speed of light, using improved optics and a longer baseline. He conducted some preliminary measurements using largely improvised equipment in 1878, about the same time that his work came to the attention of [[Simon Newcomb]], director of the Nautical Almanac Office who was already advanced in planning his own study. Michelson published his result of 299,910 ± 50 km/s in 1879 before joining [[Simon Newcomb|Newcomb]] in Washington DC to assist with his measurements there. Thus began a long professional collaboration and friendship between the two.

[[Simon Newcomb]], with his more adequately funded project, obtained a value of 299,860 ± 30 km/s, just at the extreme edge of consistency with Michelson's. Michelson continued to "refine" his method and in 1883 published a measurement of 299,853 ± 60 km/s, rather closer to that of his mentor.

[[File:Albert Abraham Michelson 1918.jpg|thumb|230px|[[Lt. Cmdr.]] Albert A. Michelson while serving in the [[U.S. Navy]]. He rejoined the U.S. Navy in World War I,<ref name=Nobel>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson.html?print=1|title=Albert A. Michelson - Facts|publisher=}}</ref> when this portrait was taken.]]

===Mount Wilson and Lookout Mountain===
In 1906, a novel electrical method was used by [[Edward Bennett Rosa|E. B. Rosa]] and the [[National Bureau of Standards]] to obtain a value for the [[speed of light]] of 299,781 ± 10 km/s. Though this result has subsequently been shown to be severely biased by the poor electrical standards in use at the time, it seems to have set a fashion for rather lower measured values.

From 1920, Michelson started planning a definitive measurement from the [[Mount Wilson Observatory]], using a baseline to Lookout Mountain, a prominent bump on the south ridge of [[Mount San Antonio]] ("Old Baldy"), some 22 miles distant.

In 1922, the [[U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey]] began two years of painstaking measurement of the baseline using the recently available [[invar]] tapes. With the baseline length established in 1924, measurements were carried out over the next two years to obtain the published value of 299,796 ± 4 km/s.<ref>
{{cite journal
| url = http://www.pvaa.us/nightwatch/GeodeticMeasurementOfUnusuallyHighAccuracy.pdf
| last = Garner
| first = C. L., Captain (retired)
| title = A Geodetic Measurement of Unusually High Accuracy
| journal = U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Journal
| date = April 1949
| pages = 68–74
| publisher = Coast and Geodetic Survey
| accessdate =August 13, 2009
}}</ref>

Famous as the measurement is, it was beset by problems, not least of which was the haze created by the smoke from forest fires which blurred the mirror image. It is also probable that the intensively detailed work of the [[geodetic survey]], with an estimated error of less than one part in 1 million, was compromised by a shift in the baseline arising from the [[1925 Santa Barbara earthquake|Santa Barbara earthquake]] of June 29, 1925, which was an estimated magnitude of 6.3 on the [[Richter magnitude scale|Richter scale]].

The now-famous [[Michelson–Morley experiment]] also influenced the affirmation attempts of peer [[Albert Einstein]]'s theory of [[general relativity]] and [[special relativity]], using similar optical instrumentation. These instruments and related collaborations included the participation of fellow physicists [[Dayton Miller]], [[Hendrik Lorentz]], and [[Robert Shankland]].

===Michelson, Pease, and Pearson===
The period after 1927 marked the advent of new measurements of the speed of light using novel [[electro-optics|electro-optic]] devices, all substantially lower than Michelson's 1926 value.

Michelson sought another measurement, but this time in an evacuated tube to avoid difficulties in interpreting the image owing to atmospheric effects. In 1930, he began a collaboration with [[Francis G. Pease]] and Fred Pearson to perform a measurement in a 1.6 km tube 3 feet in diameter at the Irvine Ranch near Santa Ana, California. In multiple reflections the light path was increased to 10 miles. For the first time in history the speed of light was measured in an almost perfect vacuum of 0.5 mm of mercury. Michelson died with only 36 of the 233 measurement series completed and the experiment was subsequently beset by geological instability and condensation problems before the result of 299,774 ± 11 km/s, consistent with the prevailing [[electro-optics|electro-optic]] values, was published posthumously in 1935.

===Interferometry===
In 1887 he collaborated with colleague [[Edward Morley|Edward Williams Morley]] of Western Reserve University, now part of [[Case Western Reserve University]], in the [[Michelson–Morley experiment]]. Their experiment for the expected motion of the [[Earth]] relative to the [[luminiferous aether|aether]], the hypothetical medium in which light was supposed to travel, resulted in a [[null result]]. Surprised, Michelson repeated the experiment with greater and greater precision over the next years, but continued to find no ability to measure the aether. The Michelson-Morley results were immensely influential in the physics community, leading [[Hendrik Lorentz]] to devise his now-famous [[Lorentz contraction]] equations as a means of explaining the null result.

There has been some historical controversy over whether [[Albert Einstein]] was aware of the Michelson–Morley results when he developed his theory of [[special relativity]], which pronounced the aether to be "superfluous." In a later interview, Einstein said of the Michelson–Morley experiment, "I was not conscious it had influenced me directly... I guess I just took it for granted that it was true."<ref>Swenson, Loyd S. Jr., ''The Ethereal Aether: A History of the Michelson–Morley–Miller Aether-Drift Experiments, 1880–1930,'' University of Texas Press, 1972</ref> Regardless of Einstein's specific knowledge, the experiment is today considered the canonical experiment in regards to showing the lack of a detectable aether.<ref>Note that while Einstein's 1905 paper ''[[On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies]]'' appears to reference the experiment on first glance—"together with the unsuccessful attempts to discover any motion of the earth relatively to the 'light medium,' suggest that the phenomena of electrodynamics as well as of mechanics possess no properties corresponding to the idea of absolute rest"—it has been shown that Einstein was referring to a different category of experiments here.</ref><ref>Holton, Gerald, "Einstein, Michelson, and the 'Crucial' Experiment", ''Isis'', Vol. 60, No. 2 (Summer, 1969), pp. 133–197</ref>

==Astronomical interferometry==
From 1920 and into 1921 Michelson and [[Francis G. Pease]] became the first individuals to measure the diameter of a star other than the Sun. They used an [[astronomical interferometer]] at the [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] to measure the diameter of the super-giant star [[Betelgeuse]]. A periscope arrangement was used to obtain a densified pupil in the interferometer, a method later investigated in detail by [[Antoine Émile Henry Labeyrie]] for use in "Hypertelescopes". The measurement of stellar diameters and the separations of binary stars took up an increasing amount of Michelson's life after this.

A century later, the specific interferometer instrumentation design produced by Albert Michelson has become the principal means to conduct [[astronomical interferometry]].
The "[[Michelson Interferometer]]" design is found on [[List of astronomical interferometers at visible and infrared wavelengths|modern operational observatories]] such as [[VLTI#Interferometry and the VLTI|VLTI]], [[CHARA array|CHARA]] and the U.S. Navy's [[Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer|NPOI]].

==Michelson in popular culture==
[[File:Strzelno tablica pamiatkowa Albert A Michelson 2017 03 27 054.jpg|thumb|150px|Commemorative plaque in [[Strzelno]], Poland, were Michelson was born, founded by Polish Physical Society.]]
In an episode of the television series ''[[Bonanza]]'' ("Look to the Stars", broadcast March 18, 1962), Ben Cartwright ([[Lorne Greene]]) helps the 16-year-old Michelson (portrayed by 25-year-old Douglas Lambert (1936–1986)) obtain an appointment to the [[U.S. Naval Academy]], despite the opposition of the bigoted town schoolteacher (played by [[William Schallert]]). ''Bonanza'' was set in and around [[Virginia City, Nevada]], where Michelson lived with his parents prior to leaving for the Naval Academy. In a voice-over at the end of the episode, Greene mentions Michelson's 1907 Nobel Prize.

The home in which Michelson lived as a child in [[Murphys, California|Murphys Camp, California]] is now a [[wine tasting|tasting room]] for Hovey Wine.

New Beast Theater Works in collaboration with High Concept Laboratories produced a 'semi-opera' about Michelson, his obsessive working style and its effect on his family life. The production ran from February 11 to February 26, 2011 in Chicago at The Building Stage. Michelson was portrayed by [[Jon Stutzman]]. The play was directed by [[David Maral]] with music composed by [[Joshua Dumas]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

[[Norman Fitzroy Maclean]] wrote an essay "Billiards is a Good Game"; published in ''The Norman Maclean Reader'' (ed. O. Alan Weltzien, 2008), it is an appreciation of Michelson from Maclean's vantage point as a graduate student regularly watching him play billiards.

==Honors and awards==
[[File:Michaelson experiment annapolis.JPG|thumb|230px|A monument at [[United States Naval Academy]] marks the path of Michelson's experiments measuring the speed of light.]]

* 1888 – [[Rumford Prize]]
* 1903 – [[Matteucci Medal]]
* 1907 – [[Copley Medal]]
* 1907 – [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]<ref name=Nobel/>
* 1914 – [[Elliott Cresson Medal]]
* 1916 – [[Henry Draper Medal]] from the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] <ref name=Draper>{{cite web|title=Henry Draper Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |accessdate=February 19, 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126003930/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |archivedate=January 26, 2013 }}</ref>
* 1922 – [[Prix Jules Janssen]], the highest award of the [[Société astronomique de France]], the French astronomical society.
* 1923 – [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
* 1923 – [[The Franklin Institute Awards|Franklin Medal]]

Michelson was a member of the [[Royal Society]], the National Academy of Sciences, the [[American Physical Society]] and the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]].

The [[Computer Measurement Group]] gives an annual [[Computer Measurement Group#Awards|A. A. Michelson Award]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|United States Navy}}

* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of United States Naval Academy alumni#Nobel laureates|List of Naval Academy Nobel Laureates]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{cite book | last=Livingston | first=D. M. | title=The Master of Light: A Biography of Albert A. Michelson | date=1973 | isbn=0-226-48711-3}}
*{{cite book | last=Levy | first=Harriet Lane | authorlink=Harriet Lane Levy | title=920 O'Farrell Street | publisher=Heyday Books | date=1996 | location=Berkeley | isbn=0-930588-91-6}}

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Albert A. Michelson}}
*[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/michelson-a-a.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]
* [http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Michelson/Michelson.html Michelson's Life and Works from the American Institute of Physics]
* [http://www.usna.edu/LibExhibits/collections/michelson/navy.html U.S. Naval Academy and The Navy]
* [http://cdm16099.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16099coll5/id/3979 USNA Guide to the Albert A. Michelson Collection, 1803–1989]
* [http://www.usna.com/Document.Doc?id=617 From USNA to Nobel: Albert A. Michelson's Life and Contributions]
* [http://michelson-house.uchicago.edu Michelson House at the University of Chicago]
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html Michelson's Nobel Prize Biography]
* {{gutenberg author|id=Albert_A._Michelson|name=Albert A. Michelson}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Albert Abraham Michelson}}
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0529603/ IMDB: Bonanza episode ''Look to the Stars'']
* [http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/voices-in-time/norman-maclean-learns-from-the-master.php?page=all Norman Maclean: ''"Billiards Is a Good Game": Gamesmanship and America's First Nobel Prize Scientist''; reprinted in Lapham's Quarterly]
* [http://www.europa.com/~telscope/usna.doc The U.S. Naval Academy Observatory Programs and Times Gone By: A Tale of Two Domes]
* {{cite web|url=http://www.navair.navy.mil/nawcwd/nawcwd/news/2008/2008-02_michelson.htm|title=NAWS China Lake|accessdate=September 3, 2010}}
* [http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/4957/1/4957_Shankland%26Orchiston_2002.pdf Nineteenth Century Astronomy at the U.S. Naval Academy]

{{Copley Medallists 1901–1950}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1901–1925}}
{{NAS presidents}}
{{Presidents of the American Physical Society}}
{{Presidents of the History of Science Society}}
{{Hall of Fame for Great Americans}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michelson, Albert A}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century physicists]]
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[[Category:People from the Province of Posen]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:American agnostics]]
[[Category:American physicists]]
[[Category:Case Western Reserve University faculty]]
[[Category:Experimental physicists]]
[[Category:Optical physicists]]
[[Category:History of Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:United States Naval Academy alumni]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Jewish agnostics]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
[[Category:Jewish inventors]]
[[Category:Jewish physicists]]
[[Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Honorary Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:National Academy of Sciences laureates]]
[[Category:Hall of Fame for Great Americans inductees]]
[[Category:20th-century American scientists]]