The Michelson Era in American Science: 1870–1930

Abstract

The articles in this volume relate, in one way or another, to a single experiment: the Michelson-Morley ether-drift experiment of 1887. About one-half of the articles in the collection are based on papers delivered at a two-day symposium The Michelson Era in American Science: 1870--1930,'' held a Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, 28--29 October 1987, commemorating the centennial of the experiment. The Michelson-Morley experiment was designed to detect the motion of the earth through the luminiferous ether. At the time, physicists did not question the existence of the ether. The experiment, like many physical probes of nature, was simple in conception, yet uncompromisingly demanding of the art of contemporary craftsmanship. The state of the mechanical arts and its relationship to the pursuit of physical science in late nineteenth- century America is well documented in Section I, which also addresses the more general question of the link between state-of-the-art shop practice and engineering theory.