Science is a field of progress, and in order to keep moving forward, you’ve got to break down a few walls. If you’re in New York on June 6, come join us for our Science Wake: Eulogies for Failed ...

In 1887, Albert Michelson built an experiment that he hoped would lead to the detection of luminiferous ether. At the time, physicists believed that the ether permeated the universe and served as the ...

As the 19th century came to a close, physicists were feeling pretty satisfied with the state of their science. The great edifice of physical theory seemed complete. A few minor experiments remained to ...

You couldn't ask for a more elegant experiment. Beginning in the 1880s, Albert Michelson set out to demonstrate that light waves travel through "luminiferous ether." This all-pervasive ether was a ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

In the late 1800s, no one knew what light was. Everyone knew it behaved like a wave some of the time, but all waves need to travel through some propagation medium. This propagation medium was called ...

Einstein’s theory of relativity was one of the giant leaps of the human intellect. So impressive was it that for years most physicists have accepted it as the fundamental law of the universe, even ...

Albert Michelson was a Polish immigrant who grew up in the hard-scrabble atmosphere of the California gold rush. He relied on an appeal to then-President Ulysses Grant to gain admission to the Naval ...

The progress of discovery during the past century has been so rapid, and, compared to the previous ages of the world, so epoch-making, that not a few recognized thinkers in different lines of ...

AT the anniversary meeting of the Victoria Institute on June 29, Sir G. G. Stokes delivered his presidential address. After a few introductory remarks on the functions of the Institute, he said:—“I ...