Experimental Determination of the Velocity of Light

by Albert Abraham Michelson

The probability that the most accurate method of determining the solar parallax now available is that resting on the measurement of the velocity of light, has led to the acceptance of the following paper as one of the series having in view the increase of our knowledge of the celestial motions. The researches described in it, having been made at the United States Naval Academy, though at private expense, were reported to the Honorable Secretary of the Navy, and referred by him to this Office. At the suggestion of the writer, the paper was reconstructed with a fuller general discussion of the processes, and with the omission of some of the details of individual experiments.

69 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2023

About the author

Prussian-born American physicist Albert Abraham Michelson with Edward Williams Morley helped to disprove the existence of ether, the hypothetical medium of electromagnetic waves, and won a Nobel Prize of 1907 in physics.

People know for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the experiment. He received the first in sciences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_...

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I downloaded this from gutenberg.org as an e-pub, with images. It is only 34 pages long, but very clearly written to explain the reasoning behind the experiment, the equipment used and the methodology. This research was published in 1880, and some of the equipment used could easily be duplicated or done much more precisely by high school physics students with devices they could build themselves today.This is a fascinating historical document worthy of reading by those interested in history, science, any of a number of areas.