Michelson and Morley –the men, the experiment, and the 1987 Centennial Celebration – Various + P. Taylor

Date: Thu. September 26th, 2013, 4:15 pm-5:15 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301

The Michelson-Morley experiment is arguably the most important measurement ever performed in the history of science. If its result had been different, then our whole conception of space and time would be very far from the picture that Einstein gave us in his special theory of relativity.

The collaboration between these two great men was literally born in fire, and was ended by an arrest. After a brief discussion of the history and importance of the experiment, and a description of the remarkably dissimilar personalities of Cleveland’s two most famous scientists, we will see some excerpts from the 1987 Celebration at which all but one of America’s living Physics Nobelists spoke.