There were three Michelson interferometer gravitational wave detectors operational, and a fourth under construction
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Albert Abraham Michelson
Albert Abraham Michelson was an American experimental physicist known for his work on measuring the speed of light and especially for the Michelson–Morley experiment. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, becoming the first American to win the Nobel Prize in a science. He was the founder and the first head of the physics departments of the Case School of Applied Science and the Universi…
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science · American physicist (1852–1931) · physicist · military officer · university teacher · also Albert Abraham Michelson, Albert A. Michelson, Albert Michelson, A. A. Michelson, Michelson
Born 19 December 1852 · Died 9 May 1931 · Q127234
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2020· 1 entry
2017· 1 entry
A newly renovated physics research center at the University of Chicago was renamed in honor of Michelson as well
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2003· 1 entry
Awarded Distinguished Nevadan (2003).
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1949· 1 entry
“The Philosophic Dialectic of the Concepts of Relativity”
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1931· 3 entries
In Pasadena, California, at the age of 78
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Died 1931-05-09.
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“If a poet could at the same time be a physicist, he might convey to others the pleasure, the satisfaction, almost the reverence, which the subject inspires.”
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1929· 1 entry
Won Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize (1929).
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1924· 1 entry
Measurements were carried out over the next two years to obtain the published value of 299,796 ± 4 km/s
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1923· 2 entries
Won Franklin Medal (1923).
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Won Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).
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1922· 3 entries
Awarded doctor honoris causa from the University of Paris (1922).
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Awarded Prix Jules Janssen (1922).
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The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey began two years of painstaking measurement of the baseline using the recently available invar tapes
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1921· 1 entry
Awarded Guthrie Lecture (1921).
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1920· 1 entry
Won Albert Medal (1920).
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1916· 2 entries
Won Henry Draper Medal (1916).
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Arnold Sommerfeld gave a theoretical explanation, introducing the fine-structure constant
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1912· 1 entry
Won Elliott Cresson Medal (1912).
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1907· 4 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid.
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Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics (1907).
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Won Copley Medal (1907).
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Received the Nobel Prize in Physics, becoming the first American to win the Nobel Prize in a science
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1903· 1 entry
Won Matteucci Medal (1903).
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1902· 1 entry
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1902).
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1899· 1 entry
Michelson married Edna Stanton
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1892· 1 entry
Was appointed Professor and the first head of the Department of Physics at the newly-organized University of Chicago, where he remained until his retirement in 1929
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1890· 1 entry
Michelson became a professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts
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1888· 1 entry
Awarded Rumford Prize (1888).
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1887· 2 entries
Collaborated with colleague Edward Williams Morley of Western Reserve University, now part of Case Western Reserve University, in the Michelson–Morley experiment
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And Edward Morley carried out the famous Michelson–Morley experiment, which failed to detect evidence of the existence of the luminiferous ether
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1883· 2 entries
Published a measurement of 299,853 ± 60 km/s, rather closer to that of his mentor
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Was appointed Professor of Physics at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, and concentrated on developing an improved interferometer
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1879· 2 entries
Measured the speed of light in air to be 299864±51 kilometres per second, and estimated the speed of light in vacuum as 299940 km/s, or 186380 mi/s
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Before joining Newcomb in Washington DC to assist with his measurements there
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1878· 1 entry
About the same time that his work came to the attention of Simon Newcomb, director of the Nautical Almanac Office who was already advanced in planning his own study
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1877· 1 entry
Michelson married Margaret Hemingway, daughter of a wealthy New York stockbroker and lawyer and the niece of his commander William T
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1873· 2 entries
And two years at sea, he returned to the Naval Academy in 1875 to become an instructor in physics and chemistry until 1879, when he was posted to the Nautical Almanac Office, Washington (part of the United States Naval O
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Studied at United States Naval Academy, undergraduate degree (1873).
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1852· 2 entries
Born 1852-12-19.
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In Strelno (now Strzelno, Poland), Prussia, into a Polish-Jewish family
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