Albert A. Michelson
With beams of light and a brilliant interferometer, he measured the cosmos's most fundamental constant and challenged the ether's existence.
1852–1931 (age 79)·American experimental physicist·Birthday: December 19
Biography
Albert A. Michelson’s story is one of precision in pursuit of the intangible. Born in Prussia and raised in the American West, his naval career led him to an obsession with light. His genius was mechanical: he designed and built ever-more exquisite instruments to trap and measure light waves. His interferometer, a device of mirrors and beamsplitters, was a work of art that could measure distances in wavelengths of light. His lifelong quest to pin down the speed of light yielded a figure so accurate it stood for decades. In 1887, with chemist Edward Morley, he used this tool for an experiment that would echo through physics: they found no evidence of the 'luminiferous ether,' the presumed medium for light waves. While they weren't sure what it meant, their null result became a cornerstone for Einstein's theory of relativity. Michelson, a hands-on experimenter in an age of growing theory, proved that truth could be found in the delicate alignment of a mirror.
#1 When Albert Was Born
The biggest hits of 1852
Albert's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1852Born
1857Started school
1865Became a teenager
President: Andrew Johnson
1868Could drive
President: Andrew Johnson
1870Could vote
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1873Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1882Turned 30
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
1892Turned 40
President: Benjamin Harrison
1902Turned 50
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1912Turned 60
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1922Turned 70
King Tut's tomb discovered in Egypt
President: Warren G. Harding"April Showers" — Al Jolson
1931Died at 79
The Empire State Building opens as the world's tallest
Gas: $0.17/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Minnie the Moocher" — Cab CallowayBest Picture: Cimarron
Key Achievements
- Awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics, the first American to win a Nobel in the sciences.
- Conducted the Michelson-Morley experiment (1887), whose null result helped pave the way for Einstein's theory of relativity.
- Made highly precise measurements of the speed of light using refined optical instruments of his own design.
- Served as the first head of the physics department at the University of Chicago.
- Invented the Michelson interferometer, a revolutionary device for measuring wavelengths and minute distances.
Did You Know?
His interest in the speed of light began with a demonstration at the U.S. Naval Academy.
He measured the speed of light in a two-mile vacuum tube constructed in Irvine, California.
He was the first to accurately measure the diameter of a star (Betelgeuse) using an interferometer.
He nearly failed chemistry at the Naval Academy and was initially denied a commission.
The 1907 Nobel Prize was awarded specifically 'for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid.'
““The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote.””
