Albert Abraham Michelson

Albert Abraham Michelson, (pronunciation anglicized as "Michael-son", December 19, 1852 - May 9, 1931), was a Prussian-born American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light, and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment. In 1907 he received a Nobel prize for physics, the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in the sciences.

Life

Michelson was born in Strzelno, Poland (then Strelno, Provinz Posen Kingdom of Prussia) in 1852, the son of a Jewish merchant. He moved to the United States with his parents when he was two years old. He grew up in the rough mining towns of Murphy's Camp, California, and Virginia City, Nevada, where his father was a merchant.

Related Topics:
Strzelno - Poland - Strelno - Provinz Posen - Kingdom of Prussia - 1852 - United States - Virginia City, Nevada

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President Ulyses S. Grant awarded Michelson a special appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1869. During his four years as a midshipman at the Academy, Michelson excelled in optics, heat and climatology, and drawing. After his graduation in 1873 and two years at sea, he returned to the Academy to become an instructor in physics and chemistry, from 1875 to 1879. Michelson was fascinated with the sciences and the problem of measuring the speed of light in particular. During this time in Annapolis he conducted his first experiments of the speed of light, as part of a class demonstration in 1877. After two years of studies in Europe he resigned from the navy in 1881. In 1883 he accepted a position as professor of physics at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio and concentrated on developing an improved interferometer. In 1887 he and Edward Morley carried out the famous Michelson-Morley experiment which seemed to rule out the existence of the aether. He later moved on to use astronomical interferometers in the measurement of stellar diameters and in measuring the separations of binary stars.

Related Topics:
Ulyses S. Grant - U.S. Naval Academy - 1869 - 1873 - 1875 - 1879 - Speed of light - 1877 - Europe - 1881 - 1883 - Case School of Applied Science - Cleveland, Ohio - Interferometer - 1887 - Edward Morley - Michelson-Morley experiment - Aether - Astronomical interferometers

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After serving as professor at Clark University at Worcester, Massachusetts from 1889, in 1892 Michelson was appointed professor and the first head of the department of physics at the newly organized University of Chicago. In 1907, Michelson became the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid". He also won the Copley Medal in 1907, the Henry Draper Medal in 1916, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1923. A crater on the Moon is named after him.

Related Topics:
Clark University - Worcester, Massachusetts - 1889 - 1892 - University of Chicago - 1907 - Nobel Prize in Physics - Copley Medal - Henry Draper Medal - 1916 - Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society - 1923 - Crater - Moon

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Michelson died on May 9, 1931 in Pasadena, California. The University of Chicago Residence Halls remembered Michelson and his achievements by dedicating Michelson House in his honor.

Related Topics:
May 9 - 1931 - Pasadena, California

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