“On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether”

Abstract

The paper titled On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether was published in 1887 by Albert A. Michelson, Professor of Physics, and Edward W. Morley, Professor of Chemistry (Fig. 1), at what is now called Case Western Reserve University. It demonstrated that the speed of light is unaffected by the motion of the earth. This finding was contrary to then-current thinking and was an important part of the experimental framework that paved the way for Einstein's theory of relativity, and the birth of modern physics.