Lot 397
  • 397

MICHELSON.ON THE RELATIVE MOTION OF THE EARTH...PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 1887

Estimate
3,000 - 4,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Michelson, Albert A. & Edward W. Morley
  • "On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Aether", [pp.449-63 in] The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, and Journal of Science....Fifth Series. No.151... Taylor and Francis, December 1887
  • paper
8vo, original blue-green wrappers, lacking portion of spine, upper detached, a few other small tears to wrappers, slightly browned

Provenance

Knut Pauli, ink signature and shelf-label on upper wrapper; Mr. Chelson, pencil signature on wrapper; Haskell F. Norman, sale of his library at Christie's New York, 29 October 1999, lot 1199

Condition

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

RARE. THE FIRST EUROPEAN PRINTING OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE CELEBRATED MICHELSON-MORLEY EXPERIMENT, WHICH LED DIRECTLY TO EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY. The first American printing occurred a few weeks earlier in The American Journal of Science. Michelson and Morley record the famous experiment  -- which has been said to be the starting point for the theory of relativity -- they undertook in 1887 at Case Western Reserve University. The experiment is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a universal luminiferous ether (a medium for the propagation of light). It was a fundamental principle of Newtonian theories of the universe that such an ether existed and that it surrounded the earth (just as water waves required a medium to move across, and audible sound waves required a medium to move through, so, it had been thought, light waves needed a medium of their own.) Because the speed of light is so great, designing an experiment to detect the presence and properties of this ether took considerable ingenuity. To perform the experiment Michelson designed an interferometer, for which he subsequently won the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics. This device enabled the scientific pair to measure the speed of light in different directions, in order to measure speed of the ether relative to Earth, and thereby establish its existence. Although Michelson and Morley were expecting to measure different speeds of light in each direction, they found no noticeable difference in any orientation or at any position of the Earth in its annual orbit around the Sun. "This negative result held revolutionary implications which led directly through Lorentz and Einstein to the acceptance of new standards of time and space from geometry and cosmometry" (Dibner Heralds of Science 161). In 1905 Einstein was able to argue convincingly that in fact the speed of light is a universal constant.