Michelson-Morley experiment

British

/ ˌmaɪkəlsənˈmɔːlɪ /

noun

an experiment first performed in 1887 by A. A. Michelson and E. W. Morley, in which an interferometer was used to attempt to detect a difference in the velocities of light in directions parallel and perpendicular to the earth's motion. The negative result was explained by the special theory of relativity

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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The American Physical Society calls the Michelson-Morley experiment “what might be regarded as the most famous failed experiment to date.”

From Scientific American • Jul. 27, 2023

Based mostly on his analysis that the laws of electricity and magnetism would not allow another speed for light, and only slightly aware of the Michelson-Morley experiment, Einstein detailed his second postulate of special relativity.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

The Michelson-Morley experiment demonstrated that the speed of light in a vacuum is independent of the motion of the Earth about the Sun.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

He invented the interferometre by which in the Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887 he split a ray of light in two and raced the fractions against each other.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the famous Michelson-Morley experiment demonstrated that such an aether does not exist.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023