Michelson-Morley experiment

/ ˌmaɪkəlsənˈmɔːlɪ /

noun

1. 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

Example Sentences

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

From Scientific American

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

From Literature

There is no need to introduce the idea of an ether, whose presence anyway cannot be detected, as the Michelson-Morley experiment showed.

From Literature

The famous Michelson-Morley experiment attempted to measure a change in the speed of light depending on the Earth’s motion around the Sun, but failed to find any change.

From Forbes

Its inception sprang from the Michelson-Morley experiment, made in a laboratory in Cleveland, which showed that motion of the earth through the ether of space could not be detected.

From Project Gutenberg