The Michelson-Morley-Miller Experiments before and after 1905

This paper is derived from my revised ms., “The ethereal aether: A history of the Michelson-Morley aether-drift experiments, 1880–1930”, first done as a dissertation at Claremont Graduate School, 1962, and recast at Harvard University, 1967. I am indebted to the staff of Harvard Project Physics, particularly to Holton Gerald , Bork Alfred M. , Brush Stephen G. , Stewart Albert B. , and Little Noel , for valuable comments and criticism. Parts II and III of this paper were originally delivered, respectively, before the History of Science Society, annual meetings with A.A.A.S., Section L, Washington, D.C., 28 December 1966, and Dallas , Texas, 30 December, 1968.

Einstein Albert , “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper”, Annalen der Physik, (4) xvii (1905), 891–921. It is well known that Einstein here made no explicit reference to any experimental evidence but did allude to “the unsuccessful attempts to discover any motion of the Earth relatively to the ‘light medium’” before postulating that the principle of relativity applies to electromagnetism. For some older well balanced judgments on the role of Michelson's experiment to Einstein's theory, see Chalmers Thomas W. , Historic researches: Chapters in the history of physical and chemical discovery (London, 1949), ch. 4, “The ether-drift experiments”, 64–83; Bergmann Peter G. , Introduction to the theory of relativity (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1942), 23–27. See also Bergmann's review article, “Fifty years of Relativity”, Science, cxxiii (1956), 487–494, and another by Mercier André , “Fifty years of the Theory of Relativity”, Nature, clxxv (1955), 919–921.

Following Butterfield's Herbert The Whig interpretation of history (London, 1931, and New York, 1965), we might class the following as examples of histories of physics written by the victorious faction: von Laue Max , History of physics, trans. Oesper Ralph (New York, 1950), 71–74; also Laue's Die Relativitätstheorie (2 vols., Braunschweig, 1955); Born Max , Einstein's Theory of Relativity, rev. ed. with Leibfried G. and Biem W. (New York, 1962), first German edition in 1920 and first English translation by Brose H. L. in 1924; Gamow George , Biography of physics (New York, 1961), and numerous other titles; Infeld Leopold , Albert Einstein: His work and its influence on our world (New York, 1950), and other titles, some in collaboration with Einstein; Pauli Wolfgang , Theory of Relativity, trans. Field G. (Oxford, 1958), first published in German in 1921 as a review article for a mathen. ical encyclopedia. On the other hand, examples of what I should call the “Tory” interpretation, emphasizing continuity and tradition and conservatism toward the idea of progress in science, might include the following: Wightman William P. D. , The growth of scientific ideas (New Haven, 1951); Gillispie Charles C. , The edge of objectivity: An essay in the history of scientific ideas (Princeton, 1960), esp. Epilogue; Cajori Florian , A history of physics in its elementary branches including the evolution of physical laboratories (rev. ed., New York, 1929); and Jaki Stanley L. , The relevance of physics (Chicago, 1966).

See especially the following papers by Holton Gerald : “Einstein, Michelson, and the ‘crucial’ experiment”, Isis, xl (1969), 133–97; “Influences on Einstein's early work in Relativity Theory”, The American scholar, xxxvii (winter, 1967–8), 59–79; “On the origins of the Special Theory of Relativity”, American journal of physics, xxviii (1960), 627–636; “Resource Letter SRT-1 on Special Relativity Theory”, American journal of physics, xxx (1962), 462–9; “The metaphor of space-time events in science”, Eranos-Jahrbuch, xxxiv (1965), 33–78. See also Bork Alfred M. , “The fourth dimension in nineteenth century physics”, Isis, lv (1964), 326–38; “Maxwell and the vector potential”, Isis, lviii (1967), 210–22; “Physics just before Einstein”, Science, clii (1966), 597–603; Brill Dieter R. and Perisho Robert C. , “Resource Letter GR-1 on General Relativity”, American journal of physics, xxxvi, (1968), 1–8; Bromberg Joan , “Maxwell's displacement current and his theory of light”, Archive for history of exact sciences, iv, pt. 3 (1967), 218–34; Brush Stephen G. , “Science and culture in the nineteenth century: Thermodynamics and history”, The [University of Texas] graduate journal, vii (1967), 477–565; Everitt C. W. F. , “Maxwell's scientific papers”, Applied optics, vi (1967), 639–46; Goldberg Stanley , “Henri Poincaré and Einstein's Theory of Relativity”, American journal of physics, xxxv (1967), 934–44; Grünbaum Adolf , “The bearing of philosophy on the history of science”, Science, cxliii (1964), 1406–12; Hirosige Tetu , “Lorentz's Theory of Electrons and the development of the concept of electromagnetic field”, Japanese studies in the history of science, i (1963), 101–10; Joncich Geraldine , “Scientists and the schools of the nineteenth century: The case of American physicists”, American quarterly, xviii (1966), 667–85; McCormmach Russell , “Henri Poincaré and the Quantum Theory”, Isis, lviii (1967), 37–55; Klein Martin J. , “Thermodynamics in Einstein's thought”, Science, clvii (1967), 509–16; Scribner Charles Jr. , “Henri Poincaré and the Principle of Relativity”, American journal of physics, xxxii (1964), 672–8; Simpson Thomas K. , “Maxwell and the direct experimental test of his electromagnetic theory”, Isis, lvii (1966), 411–32; Süsskind Charles , “Observations of electromagnetic wave radiation before Hertz”, Isis, lv (1964), 32–42; Woodruff A. E. , “Action at a distance in nineteenth century electrodynamics”, Isis, liii (1962), 439–59. Regarding current interest in the sociology of scientific change, beyond the well known works of Merton Robert K. , Barber Bernard , Hirsch Walter , Kaplan Norman , and Kuhn's Thomas S. book, The structure of scientific revolutions (Chicago, 1962), see Toulmin Stephen E. , “The evolutionary development of natural science”, American scientist, iv (1967), 456–71; Storer Norman W. , The social system of science (New York, 1966); and Ziman John , Public knowledge: An essay concerning the social dimension of science (Cambridge, 1968).

The best extant accounts generally ignore Miller's role and accept the “Whig” interpretation of the advent of relativity: See Shankland Robert S. , “Michelson-Morley experiment”, American journal of physics, xxxii (1964), 16–35 and Scientific American, ccxi, pt. 5 (November, 1964), 107–14; Jaffe Bernard , Michelson and the speed of light (Garden City, 1960), 57–109. Almost alone among the “middle literature” accounts in taking Miller's role seriously is Lindsay Robert B. and Margenau Henry , Foundations of physics (New York, 1936), 319–54.

Maxwell James Clerk , letter to D. P. Todd, 19 March 1879, reprinted in Nature, xxi (1880), 314–17; “Ether”, article in Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ninth Edition, first published in 1878, viii, p. 572 in 1893 reissue. See also [ Appleyard Rollo ], “Clerk Maxwell and the Michelson experiment”, Nature, cxxv (1930), 566–7. Regarding Maxwell's 1864 “Experiment to determine whether the Motion of the Earth Influences the Refraction of Light”, see Bork Alfred M. , “Foundations of electromagnetic theory—Maxwell”, forthcoming in Sources of Science series from Johnson Reprint Corporation. Regarding George Gabriel Stokes, see his occasional lectures in Forbes G. , ed., Science lectures at South Kensington, (2 vols., London, 1878–9), and his Burnet Lectures at Aberdeen, On light (London, 1884).

See Crew Henry , ed., The wave theory of light: Memoirs by Huygens, Young and Fresnel (New York, 1900); Preston Thomas , The theory of light (3rd ed. by Joly C. J. ; London, 1901), first published in 1890; Chase Carl. T. , A history of experimental physics (New York, 1932), pp. 44, 149.

See, e.g., the first edition of Whittaker Edmund T. , A history of the theories of aether and electricity from the Age of Descartes to the close of the nineteenth century (London, 1910), ch. 11 entitled “The theory of aether and electrons in the closing years …”; or Dugas René , A history of mechanics, trans. Maddox J. R. (Neuchâtel, 1955), pp. 461, 490. Cf. Mach Ernst , The principles of physical optics: An historical and philosophical treatment (New York, n.d.), first published in German in 1916; trans. by Anderson J. S. and Young A.F.A. for first English edition in 1926.

Bradley James on “The motion of fixed stars”, 1727, reprinted as appendix in Carus Paul , The Principle of Relativity in the light of the philosophy of science (Chicago, 1913); Stewart Albert B. , “The discovery of stellar aberration”, Scientific American, ccx, pt. 3 (March, 1964), 100–8; Sarton George , “Discovery of the aberration of light”, Isis, xvi (1931), 233–9. See also Cohen I. Bernard , Roemer and the first determination of the velocity of light (New York, 1944), and his related article, “The first explanation of interference”, American journal of physics, viii (1940), 99–106.

Fizeau H. , “Sur une expérience relative à la vitesse de propagation de la lumière”, Comptes rendus, xxix (1849), 90–92; Fizeau H. et Gounelle E. , “Recherches sur la vitesse de propagation de l'électricité”, Comptes rendus (15 Avril 1850), xxx, 437–40; Fizeau H. et Breguet L. , “Sur l'expérience relative à la vitesse comparative de la lumiére dans l'air et dans l'eau”, Comptes rendus (17 Juin 1850), xxx, 771–4, cf. ibid., 562–3 for 6 May, and Foucault L. , “Méthode générale pour mesurer la vitesse de la lumière dans l'air et les milieux transparents. Vitesses relatives de la lumière dans l'air et dans l'eau. Projet l'expérience sur la vitesse de propagation du calorique rayonnant”, Comptes rendus (6 Mai 1850), xxx, 551–50.

Fizeau's basic report of his test of Fresnel's drag coefficient is “Sur les hypothèses relatives à l'éther lumineux”, Annales de chimie et de physique, (3) lvii (1859), 385–404; subtitled, “Et sur une expérience qui le mouvement des corps change la vitesse avec laquelle la lumière se propage dans leur intérieur”, this work appears to have been accomplished in 1851 (cf. Comptes rendus, xxxiii (1851), 349) but delayed in publication. Given the importance of this celebrated “aether-drag” (or water-drag) test to Michelson's and Morley's preliminaries and what happened to delay their seasonal repetitions for “aether-drift”, we need a study in depth of the Fizeau/Foucault rivalry. See also Foucault's “Détermination expérimentale de la vitesse de la lumière; parallaxe du Soleil”, Comptes rendus, lv (1862), 501–3. Not particularly helpful on this matter are Ronchi Vasco , Storia della luce (Bologna, 1939); Hoppe Edmund , Geschichte der Optik (Leipzig, 1926); or the appropriate essays in Taton René , ed., History of science, 4 vols, trans. Pomerans A. J. (New York, 1963–6), iii, 86–169, 211–34.

Airy George B. , “On a supposed alteration in the amount of astronomical aberration of light, produced by the passage of the light through a considerable thickness of refracting medium”, Proceedings of the Royal Society, xx (1871), 35–9, cf. ibid., xxi (1872), 121. Among others attempting to establish first-order (v/c) effects following Arago and Fizeau were Martin Hoek, Jacques Babinet, Eleuthère Mascart, Alfred Cornu, Hermann Vogel, and George Quincke, the last four of whom were to encourage Michelson later in his idea and instrument for a second-order (v²/c²) test for Earth's translational motion. Maxwell J. Clerk , Matter and motion (New York, n.d.), reprint of 1877 tractate on the essence of physics; see also Larmor Joseph , ed., Origins of Clerk Maxwell's electric ideas, as described in familiar letters to William Thomson (Cambridge, 1937), 39 ff.

Michelson A. A. , “On a method of measuring the velocity of light”, American journal of science, (3) xv (1878), 394–5; “The relative motion of the Earth and the luminiferous ether”, American journal of science (3) xxii (1881), 120–9. The Michelson-Newcomb correspondence is now conveniently available in Reingold Nathan , ed., Science in nineteenth century America: A documentary history (New York, 1965), 275–314. The nautical analogy has been exploited by Thirring J. Hans , The ideas of Einstein's theory: The Theory of Relativity in simple language, trans. Russell R. A. B. (London, 1921), 1–11, but I mean to insist on the serious consideration of the naval officer of the 1870s becoming a physicist in the 1880s.

See letters, Michelson A. A. to Newcomb Simon , 22 November 1880, Michelson A. A. to Bell A. Graham , 17 April 1881, in Reingold , op. cit., 287–90. See also Tolansky S. , An introduction to interferometry (London, 1955), 1–84. In his 1881 paper, Michelson considered “v = the speed of the Earth with respect to the ether” (p. 120); in his 1887 paper, he and Morley let “v = velocity of the Earth in its orbit” (p. 336).

Michelson , American journal of science, (3) xxii (1881), 128. On Lorentz , see DeHaas-Lorentz G. L. , ed., Lorentz H. A. : Impressions of his life and work (Amsterdam, 1957). On Potier , see Poggendorff's J. C. Biographisch-Literarisches Handworterbuch (Berlin, 1904).

Michelson , “Sur le mouvement relatif de la Terre et de l'éther”, Comptes rendus, xciv (1882), 520–3; “Interference phenomena in a new form of refractometer”, American journal of science, (3) xxiii (1882), 395–400; “An air-thermometer whose indications are independent of the barometric pressure”, American journal of science, (3) xxiv (1882), 92.

See Morley Edward W. papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, and Williams Howard R. , Edward Williams Morley: His influence on science in America (Easton, Pa., 1957), 199; cf. Tower Olin F. , “Edward Williams Morley”, Science, lvii (1923), 431–4. See also Shankland , op. cit., American journal of physics, xxxii (1964), 23–25, and papyrograph edition of stenographic report by Hathaway A. S. , “Notes of lectures on molecular dynamics and the wave theory of light—Delivered at the Johns Hopkins University … by Sir William Thomson, Professor in the University of Glasgow” (Baltimore, Md., 1884).

See four letters from Michelson to Gibbs between 15 December 1884 and March 1886 in the latter's papers at the Sterling Library, Yale University; see also Michelson to [ Strutt J. S. ] Rayleigh Lord , 6 March 1887, in Cajori Florian , A history of physics, 199. Also Shankland R. S. , “Rayleigh and Michelson”, and Howard John N. , “The Michelson-Rayleigh correspondence of the A.F.C.R.L. Archives”, Isis, lviii (1967), 86–9. Michelson A. A. and Morley E. W. , “Influence of motion of the medium on the velocity of light”, American journal of science, (3) xxxi (1886), 377–86; Shankland , op. cit., 25–8.

Shankland , op. cit., 32, and Scientific American, ccxi (November, 1964), 113. For a recent reprint of most of the 1887 Michelson-Morley paper, see Boorse Henry A. and Motz Lloyd , eds., The world of the atom (2 vols., New York, 1966), i, 369–82.

For a few influential examples of the modern consensus, see Barnett Lincoln , The universe and Dr Einstein (New York, 1952), 41, first published by Harpers in 1948, with a foreword by Einstein; Gardner Martin , Relativity for the million (New York, 1962), ch. 2, 13–34; Panofsky W. K. H. and Phillips M. , Classical electricity and magnetism (Cambridge, 1955), 175–6, 230–41; Schneer Cecil J. , The search for order: The development of the major ideas in the physical sciences from the earliest times to the present (New York, 1960), 299–333; Taylor Edwin F. and Wheeler John A. , Spacetime physics (San Francisco, 1963, 1966), 14, 76–8; Vasiliev A. V. , Space, time, motion: An historical introduction to the General Theory of Relativity, trans. Lucas H. M. and Sanger C. P. (New York, 1924), xvi, 134–8; and Peierls Rudolf E. , The laws of nature (New York, 1956), 121–45. Regarding recent changes in astrophysics and cosmological speculation, see e.g., Massey Harrie Sir , The new age in physics (New York, 1960), 127–38, on “The new aether”; de Broglie Louis [Louis Victor, prince de Broglie], The current interpretation of wave mechanics: A critical study, trans. Express Translation Service (Amsterdam, 1964), vii–viii, 43–4; Fedynskii V. V. , ed., The Earth in the universe (Zemlya vo vselennoi) [NASA TT F-345], trans. Israel Program for Scientific Translations (Jerusalem, 1968), 4–15; Chiu Hong-Yee and Hoffmann William F. , eds., Gravitation and Relativity (New York, 1964), xiii–xxiii, and the chapter by Marzke R. F. and Wheeler John A. , “Gravitation: As geometry”, 40; Witten Louis , ed., Gravitation: An introduction to current research (New York, 1962); Bohm David , The Special Theory of Relativity (New York, 1965), 14–17, 47–128; Dicke Robert H. , The theoretical significance of experimental Relativity (New York, 1964), 22, 99–100; Prokhovnik S. J. , The logic of Special Relativity (Cambridge, 1967), 4, 52, 56–73; Dieter Nannielou H. and Goss W. Miller , “Recent work on the interstellar medium”, Reviews of modern physics, xxxviii (1966), 256–97.

Michelson Albert A. and Morley Edward W. , “On the relative motion of the Earth and the luminiferous ether”, American journal of science, (3) xxxiv (1887, November), 333–45; also in Philosophical magazine, (5) xxiv (1887, December), 449–63. See also Miller Dayton C. , “The ether-drift experiment and the determination of the absolute motion of the Earth”, Reviews of modern physics, v (1933), 205–6. For a good discussion of types of interferometers and their adjustment, see Wilson William , A hundred years of physics (London, 1950), 114, 148–56.

Michelson and Morley , op. cit., American journal of science, xxxiv, 341.

Regarding their shift of interests, see Michelson A. A. and Morley E. W. , “On a method of making the wave length of sodium light the actual and practical standard of length”, American journal of science, (3) xxxiv (1887), 427–30; “On the feasibility of establishing a light wave as the ultimate standard of length”, American journal of science, (3) xxviii (1889), 181–6; Michelson A. A. , “A plea for light waves”, Proceedings of the A.A.A.S., xxxvii (1889, May), 67–78. See also Shankland Robert S. , “Albert A. Michelson at Case”, American journal of physics, xvii (1949), 487–90.

For Hertz , see Lenard Philip , ed., Gesammelte Werke von Heinrich Hertz (3 vols., Leipzig, 1895–1910), esp. i, 339, 354; also Hertz , Electric waves: Being researches on the propagation of electric action with finite velocity through space, trans. Jones D. E. (London, 1900), first published in German in 1892 and translated in 1893; and Hertz , The principles of mechanics presented in a new form, trans. Jones D. E. and Wally J. T. (New York, 1956), first published in German in 1899 with a preface by Hermann von Helmholtz in which this famous mentor of both Michelson and Hertz asserted “There can no longer be any doubt that light waves consist of electric vibrations in the all-pervading ether and that the latter possesses the properties of an insulator and a magnetic medium” [p. xxxii (not paginated)]. For Lodge's aether-viscosity experiment, see Lodge Oliver J. , “Aberration problems: A discussion concerning the motion of the ether near the Earth and concerning the connexion between ether and gross Matter; with some new experiments”, Philosophical transactions, clxxxiv (1893), 727–804, esp. 753. Cf. Rayleigh Lord , “Aberration”, Nature, xlv (1892), 499–502.

FitzGerald G. F. , “The ether and the Earth's atmosphere”, Science, xiii (1889), 390. This was a note “lost” even to its author and the first serious reaction to the Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887; it was recently rediscovered by Brush Stephen G. , “Note on the history of the FitzGerald-Lorentz Contraction”, Isis, lviii (1967), 230–2. Cf. Bork Alfred M. , “The ‘FitzGerald’ Contraction”, Isis, lvii (1966), 199–207.

Lodge Oliver , Modern views of electricity, (2nd ed., London, 1892), first published in 1889, 3rd ed. in 1907; Drude Paul , Physik des Aethers auf Elektromagnetischer Grundlage (Stuttgart, 1894); Dolbear A. E. , Matter, ether, and motion: The factors and relations of physcial science (2nd ed., Boston, 1894). Cf. Anderson David L. , The discovery of the electron: The development of the atomic concept of electricity (Princeton, 1964).

Röntgen Wilhelm Konrad , “On a new form of radiation”, Nature, liii (1896), 274; Michelson Albert A. , “A theory of the ‘X-rays’”, American journal of science, (4) i (1896), 312–4. See also Dibner Bern , The new rays of Professor Roentgen (Norwalk, 1963).

Michelson A. A. , “The relative motion of the Earth and the ether”, American journal of science, (4) iii (1897), 475–8.

Morley E. W. and Eddy H. T. , “On the velocity of light in a magnetic field”, Proceedings of the A.A.A.S., xlix (1890), 81; Morley and Miller D. C. , ibid., xlvii (1898), 123, and Physical review, vii (1898), 283–95.

Lorentz H. A. , Versuch einer Theorie der electrischen und optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Korpern (Leiden, 1895, reprinted Leipzig, 1906); Larmor Joseph , Aether and matter: A development of the dynamical relations of the aether to material systems on the basis of the atomic constitution of matter, including a discussion of the influence of the Earth's motion on optical phenomena … (Cambridge, 1900). See also Whyte L. L. , “A forerunner of twentieth century physics: A re-view of Larmor's ‘Aether and matter’”, Nature, clxxxvi (1960), 1010.

Kelvin Lord [Sir William Thomson], Baltimore lectures on molecular dynamics and the wave theory of light (London, 1904), 485–527. See also Thomson's Popular lectures and addresses (3 vols., London, 1891–94), especially ii, 535–56.

Poincaré Henri , Science and hypothesis, trans. W. J. G. [sic] (New York, 1952), 171, first published in French in 1902; Science and method, trans. Maitland F. (New York, n.d.), 216–21, first published in French in 1904 [?]; The value of science, trans. Halstead G. B. (New York, 1958), 99, first published in French in 1905; and Mathematics and science: Last essays, trans. Bolduc J. W. (New York, 1963), 89–99, from first edition Dernières pensées (Paris, 1913). See also Poincaré's praise of Michelson's experiment at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904: “The principles of mathematical physics”, trans. Halstead G. B. , The monist, xv (1905), 10. See also Holton Gerald , “On the thematic analysis of science: The case of Poincaré and Relativity”, in Mélanges Alexandre Koyré (2 vols., Paris, 1964), ii, 257–69. Lorentz H. A. , Lectures on theoretical physics, trans. Silberstein L. and Trivelli A. P. H. (3 vols., London, 1927–31), especially “Aether theories and aether models” delivered at University of Leyden, 1901–2, vol. i, 3–71; The theory of electrons and its applications to the phenomena of light and radiant heat (New York, 1909), lectures delivered at Columbia, March-April, 1906, 195–6, 230; 2nd ed., New York, 1915. See also Drude Paul , The theory of optics, trans. Mann C. R. and Millikan R. A. (New York, 1901), 478–82 on Michelson-Morley and interpretation.

See, e.g., Lodge Oliver Sir , The ether of space (London, 1909); also translated into German by Barkhausen H. , Der Weltäther (Braunschweig, 1911); Larmor Joseph , “Aether”, article in Encyclopaedia Britannica, eleventh edition (London and New York, 1910–11), i, 292–97; Schuster Arthur , The progress of physics during 33 years, 1875–1908 (Cambridge, 1911), 109; Sagnac M. G. , “L'éther lumineux démontré par l'effet du vent relatif d'éther dans interferomètrie en rotation uniforme”, Comptes rendus, clvii (1913), 708–10, and 1410–3; Magie William , “The primary concepts of physics”, Science, xxxv (1912), 281–93; Page Leigh , “Relativity and the ether”, American journal of science, (4) xxxviii (1914), 169–87; LeBon Gustave , The evolution of forces (New York, 1908), 13–17; Righi Augusto , “L'expérience de Michelson et son interpretation”, Comptes rendus, clxviii (1919), 837–42; “Sur les bases expérimentales de la Théorie de la Relativité”, Comptes rendus, clxx (1920), 497–501 and 1550–4; MacLaurin Richard C. , The theory of light: A treatise on physical optics (Cambridge, 1908), 10, 16, 32; Soddy Frederick , Matter and energy (London, 1912), 184–5; Mallik D. N. , Optical theories (Cambridge, 1917), 171. Thomson J. J. even defended the aether on occasion: See, e.g., “On the light thrown by recent investigations on electricity on the relation between matter and ether”, the Adamson lecture, 4 November 1907 (Manchester University [Press] Lecture No. 8, 1908), 7, 21; Beyond the electron (Cambridge, 1928), 13–15; Recollections and reflections (New York, 1937), 432; and Thomson George P. , J. J. Thomson and the Cavendish Laboratory in his day (London, 1964), 13, 37, 155–7.

Rayleigh Lord , “Does motion through the aether cause double refraction?”, Philosophical magazine, (6) iv (1902), 678–83; Trouton F. T. and Noble H. R. , “The mechanical forces acting on a charged electric condenser moving through space”, Philosophical transactions, ccii (1903), 165–81; Brace D. B. , “On double refraction in matter moving through the aether”, Philosophical magazine, (6) vii (1904), 317–29. Regarding the supposed constancy of the velocity of light, see Gheury M. E. J. , “The velocity of light: History of its determination from 1849 to 1933”, Isis, xxv (1936), 437–48; Dorsey N. Ernest , “The velocity of light”, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, (2) xxxiv (1944), Part I, 2–87; Sanders J. H. Velocity of light (Oxford, 1965), and Shankland R. S. , “Final velocity-of-light measurements of Michelson”, American journal of physics, xxxv (1967), 1095.

Michelson's 1899 Lowell lectures, for instance, ended with far more confidence in “The ether” than in the aether-drift experiment: Light waves and their uses (Chicago, 1903), 156–63. See also Mann C. Riborg , Manual of advanced optics (Chicago, 1902), 48, 170, with introduction by A. A. Michelson. Another significant effort to treat the electromagnetic aether sui generis came from Dmitri I. Mendeléev who tried to fit the ether underneath his periodic table as an inert gas: Mendeléef D. , [sic.] An attempt towards a chemical conception of the ether, trans. Kamensky G. (London, 1904).

Hicks William M. , “On the Michelson-Morley experiment relating to the drift of ether”, Philosophical magazine, (6) iii (1902), 9–36, cf. 256, 555, and Nature, lxv (1902), 343; Wien W. , “Uber die Differentialgleichungen der Elektrodynamik für bewegte Körper”, Annalen der Physik, (4) xiii (1904), 641–77; Michelson A. A. , “Relative motion of the Earth and aether”, Philosophical magazine, (6) viii (1904), 716–9; “The velocity of light”, in The Decennial publications of The University of Chicago, ix (Chicago, 1904), 3–10; Morley E. W. and Miller D. C. , “On the theory of experiments to detect aberrations of the second degree”, Philosophical magazine, (6) ix (1905), 669–80.

Morley E. W. and Miller D. C. , “Extract from a letter to Lord Kelvin”, Philosophical magazine, (6) viii (1904), 753–4; “Report of an experiment to detect the FitzGerald-Lorentz Effect”, Proceedings, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, xli (Boston, 1906), 321–8; also abridged in Philosophical magazine, (6) ix (1905), 680–5.

Lorentz H. A. , “Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any velocity less than that of light” from Proceedings, Academy of Science (Amsterdam), vi (1904), 809, as reprinted in the Sommerfeld A. collection, The Principle of Relativity, trans. Perrett W. and Jeffrey J. B. (London and New York, 1923), 22, 29. See also Schaffner Kenneth F. , “The Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction and the Lorentz Electron Theory” [preprint paper], 6–12; Ehrenfest Paul , “H. A. Lorentz as researcher” in Collected scientific papers, ed., Klein Martin J. (Amsterdam, 1959), 471–8.

Minkowski H. , “Space and time”, address to the 80th Assembly of German Natural Scientists and Physicians at Cologne, 21 September 1908, in the Dover reprint of The Principle of Relativity, 75–96.

Miller Dayton C. , op. cit., Reviews of modern physics, v (1933), 217. It is perhaps significant that Miller failed to mention or cite the following notices: Morley E. W. and Miller D. C. , “Report of progress in experiments on ether drift”, Science, (2) xxiii (1906), 417, and “Final report on ether-drift experiments”, Science, (2) xxv (1907), 525.

Williams H. R. , Edward Williams Morley, 215; MacAllister D. T. , ed., The Albert A. Michelson Nobel Prize and Lecture, Publication of the Michelson Museum, No. 2 (China Lake, Calif. 1966), aptly indicates that the Prize was awarded for everything but the aether-drift experiments; Shankland Robert S. , “Dayton C. Miller: Physics across fifty years”, American journal of physics, ix (1941), 273–83.

Einstein , “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper”, Annalen der Physik, (4) xiiv (1905), 891, and in the Dover reprint of The Principle of Relativity, 38.

Einstein A. , “Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt”, Annalen der Physik, (4) xvii (1905), 132–48; “Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Warme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flussigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen”, ibid., 549–60; and “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper”, in the Perret and Jeffrey translation in Dover reprint of The Principle of Relativity, 48.

In addition to the Holton papers cited above (especially in n. 4), see also his “Mach, Einstein, and the search for reality”, Daedalus (Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences), xcvii, pt. 2 (Spring, 1968), 636–73; Williams L. Pearce , ed., Relativity Theory: Its origins and impact on modern thought (New York, 1968); Schilpp Paul A. , ed., Albert Einstein: Philosopher-scientist (2 vols., New York, 1959), first published 1949–51 in The Library of Living Philosophers series; Sir Edmund Whittaker, A history of the theories of aether and electricity (2 vols., rev. and enlarged ed.; London, 1951–53), and in Harper Torchbook edition, 1960; also Whittaker's From Euclid to Eddington: A study of conceptions of the external world (London, 1949), 47–96. In addition publications related to the advent of relativity theory may result from graduate studies by Kevles Daniel J. , Badash Lawrence , Miller Dennis F. , Goldberg Stanley , Ruhan Antony , and Collins Bert K. . Among the general works extant and essential to such a study are the following: Bridgman P. W. , A sophisticate's primer of Relativity (Middletown, Conn., 1962); Hesse Mary B. , Forces and fields: The concept of action at a distance in the history of physics (New York, 1962); Jammer Max , Concepts of space: The history of theories of space in physics (Cambridge, Mass., 1954), and The conceptual development of quantum mechanics (New York, 1966); Kuhn Thomas S. , Heilbron John L. , Forman Paul , Allen Lini , Sources for history of quantum physics: An inventory and report (Philadelphia, 1967); Polanyi Michael , Personal knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy (Chicago, 1958); Popper Karl R. , The logic of scientific discovery (New York, 1959), revised and translated from German edition of 1934; Keswani G. H. , “Origin and concept of Relativity”, Parts I and II, British journal for the philosophy of science, xv (1965), 286–306 and xvi (1966), 19–32.

See n. 3 above. The foreshortening and abridgment of the period of conflict over relativity is natural to the “Whig” perspective, but the lens of critical historians will not miss such evidence as Michele LaRosa, Der Äther, Geschichte einer Hypothese, trans. Muth K. (Leipzig, 1912); Gandillot Maurice , L'Éthérique: Essai de physique expérimentale (Paris, 1923); Müller Aloys , Das Problem des Absoluten Raumes und Seine Beziehung Zum Allgemeinen Raumproblem (Braunschweig, 1911); Witte Hans , “Weitere Untersuchungen über die Frage nach einer mechanischen Erklarung der elektrischen Erscheinungen unter der Annahme eines kontinuerlichen Weltäthers”, Annalen der Physik, (4) xxvi (1908), 235–311. For a different kind of ferment relevant to the genesis of the special theory of relativity, see the debate between Grünbaum Adolf and Polanyi Michael in Feigl H. and Maxwell G. , eds., Current issues in the philosophy of science: Symposia of scientists and philosophers (New York, 1961), 43–55. And for another long-standing debate between Dingle Herbert and McCrea W. H. , see “Don't bring back the ether”, Nature, ccxvi (1967), 113–24.

Other experiments bearing on the aether-drift/relativity problem in the meantime included those of Kaufman W. , “Über die Konstitution des Elektrons”, Annalen der Pyhsik, (4) xix (1906), 487–553; Bucherer A. H. , “Die experimentelle Bestätigung des Relativitätsprinzips”, Annalen der Physik, (6) xxviii (1909), 513–36; Trouton F. T. and Rankine A. O. , “On the electrical resistance of moving matter”, Proceedings of the Royal Society, lxxx (1908), 420–435; Zeeman Pieter , “Optical investigation of ether-drift”, Nature, xcvi (1915), 430–1; Majorana Q. , “O. the second postulate of the Theory of Relativity”, Philosophical magazine, (6) xxxv (1918), 163–74; “Experimental demonstration of the constancy of the velocity of light emitted by a moving source”, Philosophical magazine, (6) xxxvii (1919), 145–9.

Letter, George E. Hale to Dayton C. Miller, 19 July 1920, in Miller Correspondence File, Director, Mount Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, California. I am indebted to Ira S. Bowen for access and permission to study these materials. Unless otherwise indicated all letters and telegrams hereafter cited are located in the Mount Wilson Director's Correspondence files: Letter, Miller to Hale, 1 November 1920; letter, Merritt E. (Physics, Cornell) to Hale , 22 November 1920; letter Adams Walter S. to Merritt , 29 November 1920; telegram, Miller D. C. to Hale , 19 January 1921; letter, Miller D. C. to Hale , 10 February 1921. Einstein Albert , Äther und Relativitätstheorie (Berlin, 1920) (p. 15: “space without ether is unthinkable”): Cf. Lorentz H. A. , The Einstein Theory of Relativity: A concise statement (New York, 1920), 60–3.

Telegram, D. C. Miller to Hale, 22 April 1921; letter, D. C. Miller to Hale, 30 June 1921; cf. Miller Dayton C. , The science of musical sounds (New York, 1916).

Miller Dayton C. , “Ether-drift experiments at Mount Wilson Solar Observatory”, Physical Review, xix (1922), 407–8; cf. Science, lv (1922), 496. Soon thereafter E. H. Kennard was to call in question another famous pre-1905 test: “The Trouton-Noble Experiment”, Electrodynamics of moving media, Part iv, Bulletin of National Research Council, iv, pt. 24 (1922), 162–72.

Letter, Hale to D. C. Miller, 28 July 1921; letter, D. C. Miller to H. A. Lorentz, 22 August 1921; letter, D. C. Miller to Hale, 26 August 1921. Shankland R. S. , McCuskey S. W. , Leone F. C. , and Kuerti G. , “A new analysis of the interferometer observations of Dayton C. Miller”, preprint paper [later revised for publication to exclude most of the purely historical references; published in Reviews of modern physics, xxvii (1955), 167], 5; cf. Lorentz H. A. , Problems of modern physics (Boston, 1927), 1, 221 for aether at Cal Tech lectures in 1922.

Letter, A. A. Michelson to Hale, 31 October 1922; letter, A. A. Michelson to L. Silberstein, 28 July 1921 in Twyman F. , Physical Society (London) proceedings, xliii (1931), 625–32; letter Henry G. Gale to J. H. Tufts, 13 February 1924 in Michelson A. A. papers, The University of Chicago Library. For Silberstein's prior interests, see Silberstein L. , The Theory of Relativity (London, 1914), 72–88; The Theory of General Relativity and Gravitation (Toronto, 1922).

Letter, D. C. Miller to Hale, 15 June 1922; letter, D. C. Miller to Gano Dunn, 6 December 1922; telegram, D. C. Miller to Walter S. Adams, 3 January 1923; Miller Dayton C. , “Ether-drift experiments at Mount Wilson”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, xi (1925), 306–14. Hale retired as Director of Mount Wilson in March 1922; Adams was less sympathetic. Poor Charles L. , a professor of Celestial Mechanics at Columbia, in his Gravitation versus Relativity (New York, 1922) used Miller's results to attack Einstein, thus severly damaging Miller's cause.

Letter, D. C. Miller to Walter S. Adams, 21 May 1924; telegram, D. C. Miller to Adams, 28 July 1924; letter, D. C. Miller to Adams, 8 December 1924; telegram, D. C. Miller to Adams, 9 March 1925; letter, D. C. Miller to Adams, 21 May 1925; letter, Adams to Miller, 5 June 1925; letter, Miller to Adams, 9 July 1925; letter, Miller to Adams, 19 December 1925. Regarding astronomical relative motions, see Campbell William W. , Stellar motions with special reference to motions determined by means of the spectrograph (New Haven, 1913); Eddington A. S. , Stellar movements and the structure of the universe (London, 1914); cf. Trumpler R. J. and Weaver H. F. , Statistical astronomy (Berkeley, 1953). The work of Lewis Boss , Struve G. W. L. , Newcomb Simon , and Campbell W. W. all gave different answers to the problem of the speed and direction of solar motion, but Campbell's studies around 1913 seemed impressive and offered the tentative values of about 20 km/sec. toward a point on the celestial sphere between Hercules and Lyra (Right Ascension 271°; Declination +31°); see Campbell , op. cit., 143; cf. 126, 134.

Michelson A. A. , with Gale Henry G. and Pearson Fred , “The effect of the Earth's rotation on the velocity of light”, Astrophysical journal, lxi (1925), 137–45; Michelson A. A. , “Light waves as measuring rods for sounding the infinite and the infinitesimal”, The University [of Chicago] record, xi (April, 1925), 153; New York times, 9 January 1925, 2.

Miller Dayton C. , op. cit., (n. 52); “Significance of the ether-drift experiments of 1925 at Mt. Wilson”, Science, lxiii (1926), 433–43; cf. Swann W. F. G. , “The relation of the restricted to the General Theory of Relativity and the significance of the Michelson-Morley Experiment”, Science, lxii (1925), 145–8.

The prize committee included Mendenhall W. C. for geology, Cady H. P. for chemistry, Cowles H. C. for botany, and Seashore C. E. for psychology: Science, lxiii (1926), 105; cf. Lunn A. C. , “Experimental science and world geometry”, ibid., 579–86.

Nassau J. J. and Morse P. M. , “A study of solar motion by harmonic analysis”, Astrophysical journal, lxv (1927), 73–85. On Herschel's studies, see Hoskin Michael A. , William Herschel and the construction of the heavens (London, 1963), 27–59. Of the many other students of stellar motions, including Vesto M. Slipher, Willem de Sitter, Jacobus C. Kapteyn, and J. H. Oort, only two seem to have had direct contact with Miller's work: See Strömberg Gustaf , “Space structure and motion”, Science, lxxvi (1932), 447–81, 504–8; Hubble Edwin , The realm of the nebulae (New Haven, 1936 [reprinted, 1958], 107–14, and The observational approach to cosmology (Oxford, 1937).

Telegram, D. C. Miller to Walter S. Adams, 27 December 1925; letter, Adams to Miller, 7 January 1926; telegram, Miller to Adams, 18 April 1926; letter, A. A. Michelson to G. E. Hale, 10 September 1925.

Michelson A. A. , “Light waves as measuring rods for sounding the infinite and the infinitesimal”, 136–53. Cf. Tomaschek Rudolf , “Über das Verhalten des Lichtes ausserirdischer Lichtquellen”, Annalen der Physik, lxxiii (1924), 105–26. See also the discussion in Michelson's second and last book which must then have been in preparation: Studies in optics (Chicago, 1927), 149–61.

Kennedy Roy J. , “A refinement of the Michelson-Morley Experiment”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, xii (1926), 621–9; cf. Physical review, xx (1922), 26–33; Illingworth K. K. , “A repetition of the Michelson-Morley Experiment using Kennedy's refinement”, Physical review, xxx (1927), 692–6.

Piccard A. and Stahel E. , “L'expérience de Michelson réalisée en ballon libre”, Comptes rendus, clxxxiii (1926), 420–1; “Sur le vent d'éther”, Comptes rendus, clxxxiv (1927), 451–2; “L'absence du vent d'éther au Rigi”, Comptes rendus, clxxxv (1927), 1198–1200.

Letter, A.A. Michelson to George E. Hale, 10 September 1925; letter, Walter S. Adams to Michelson, 24 November 1927; letter, Adams to Michelson, 1 December 1926; letter, Michelson to Adams, 11 June 1927. Michelson A. A. , Pease F. G. , Pearson F. , “Repetition of the Michelson-Morley Experiment”, Journal of the Optical Society of America, xviii (1929), 181–2.

Michelson A. A. , Lorentz H. A. , “Conference on the Michelson-Morley Experiment …”, Astrophysical journal, lxviii (1928), 341–402. Miller Dayton C. , “Ether-drift experiments at Mount Wilson in February 1926”, Physical review, xxvii (1926), 812; “Report on the ether-drift experiments at Cleveland in 1927”, Physical review, xxix (1927), 924.

See Journal of the Optical Society of America, xviii, pt. 3 (March, 1929), 181–2; also Carnegie Institution of Washington, Yearbooks, xxvii (1928), 150–1, and xxviii (1929), 143; cf. Kaempffert Waldemar , “Michelson: The apostle of light”, New York times magazine, 20 November 1927, 1. For a parallel interview of Michelson and Miller , see New York times, 3 November 1928, 21.

Joos Georg , “Die Jenaer Wiederholung des Michelsonversuchs”, Annalen der Physik, (5), vii (1930), 385–407, and Joos's Theoretical physics, trans. Freeman I. M. (New York, 1934, first published in German in 1932), 227. Cf. Miller D. C. , “Comments on Dr Georg Joos's criticism of the ether-drift experiment”, Physical review, xlv (1934), 114. See also Michelson A. A. , Pease F. and Pearson F. , “Repetition of the Michelson-Morley Experiment”, Nature, cxxiii (1929), 88; and Pease Francis G. , “Ether-drift data”, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, xlii (1930), 197–202.

Letter, D. C. Miller to G. S. Fulcher, 12 February 1938, in Fulcher Collection at American Institute of Physics Bohr Library. Miller Dayton C. , “The ether-drift experiment and the determination of the absolute motion of the Earth”, Reviews of modern Physics, v (1933), 203–34; “The absolute motion of the solar system and the orbital motion of the Earth determined by the ether-drift experiment”, Physical review, xliii (1933), 1054; “The ether-drift experiment and the determination of the absolute motion of the Earth”, Nature, cxxxiii (1934), 162–4. See also Miller's books of the 1930s: Anecdotal history of the science of sound (New York, 1935), and his Sparks, lightning, and cosmic rays An anecdotal history of electricity (New York, 1939).

Kennedy Roy J. and Thorndyke Edward M. , “Experimental establishment of the relativity of time”, Physical review, xlii (1932), 400–18; Ives Herbert E. and Stillwell G. R. , “An experimental study of the rate of a moving atomic clock”, Journal of the Optical Society of America, xxviii (1938), 215–20; Dirac P. A. M. , “Is there an aether?”, Nature clxiii (1951), 906; Essen L. , “A new aether-drift experiment”, Nature, clxxv (1955), 793–4; Cedarholm J. P. , Bland G. F. , Havens B. L. , and Townes C. H. , “New experimental test of Special Relativity”, Physical review letters, i (1958), 342–3; Jaseja T. S. , Javan A. , Townes C. H. , “Frequency stability of He-Ne masers and measurements of length”, Physical review letters, x (1963), 165–7; Turner K. C. and Hill H. A. , “New experimental limit on velocity dependent interactions of clocks and distant matter”, Physical review, cxxxiv (1964), 252–6; Bludman S. A. and Ruderman M. A. , “Possibility of the speed of sound exceeding the speed of light in ultradense matter”, Physical review, clxx (1968), 1176–84.

Shankland R. S. , McCuskey S. W. , Leone F. C. , and Kuerti G. , “A new analysis of the interferometer observations of Dayton C. Miller”, Reviews of modern physics, xxvii (1955), 167–78; Shankland Robert S. , “Conversations with Albert Einstein”, American journal of physics, xxxi (1963), 47–57.