One of the most important case of circulation of a physical idea in first half of the XXth Century concerns the relativity theory. Miller’s experiments and their international reception are an example of how the circulation of relativity theory and some physicists changed the scientific research programmes. Between 1902 and 1926, Miller made several ether-drift experiments similar to the well-known 1887 Michelson-Morley one. The 1920s Miller’s experiments, on the contrary of Michelson-Morley’s ones, showed a periodic second-order effect that he interpreted as a proof of the absolute motion of the Earth. Since the fringes shift he measured corresponded to a velocity of the Earth lower than the one expected in a fixed-ether theory, he developed a theory of absolute motion of the Solar System and published it in 1933. He thought that his results disproved the theory of relativity, but the most of international scientific community did not believe him and preferred a different explanation, as temperature variations, wrong data analysis, experimental errors, etc. After Miller’s claims, the Michelson-Morley experiment was repeated many times from 1926 to 1930 by other experimenters with different instruments. All these experiments gave a null result. In 1955, Shankland and his co-workers explained Miller’s data as depending from temperature variations, in the context of the relativistic research program. My study has the aim to broaden the understanding of what happened between 1925 and 1955: 1)Knowledge and interpretation of Miller’s data inside the international physics community; 2)If there was a controversy inside American or European scientific communities; 3)The relation between Dayton C. Miller and other American or European physicists. The themes I am willing to analyze are important in developing the history of relativity, in particular the history of the reception and circulation of relativity in the American scientific community.

Dayton C. Miller's ether-drift experiments / R. Lalli. ((Intervento presentato al 4. convegno International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) tenutosi a Barcelona nel 2010.

Dayton C. Miller's ether-drift experiments

R. Lalli
Primo
2010

Abstract

One of the most important case of circulation of a physical idea in first half of the XXth Century concerns the relativity theory. Miller’s experiments and their international reception are an example of how the circulation of relativity theory and some physicists changed the scientific research programmes. Between 1902 and 1926, Miller made several ether-drift experiments similar to the well-known 1887 Michelson-Morley one. The 1920s Miller’s experiments, on the contrary of Michelson-Morley’s ones, showed a periodic second-order effect that he interpreted as a proof of the absolute motion of the Earth. Since the fringes shift he measured corresponded to a velocity of the Earth lower than the one expected in a fixed-ether theory, he developed a theory of absolute motion of the Solar System and published it in 1933. He thought that his results disproved the theory of relativity, but the most of international scientific community did not believe him and preferred a different explanation, as temperature variations, wrong data analysis, experimental errors, etc. After Miller’s claims, the Michelson-Morley experiment was repeated many times from 1926 to 1930 by other experimenters with different instruments. All these experiments gave a null result. In 1955, Shankland and his co-workers explained Miller’s data as depending from temperature variations, in the context of the relativistic research program. My study has the aim to broaden the understanding of what happened between 1925 and 1955: 1)Knowledge and interpretation of Miller’s data inside the international physics community; 2)If there was a controversy inside American or European scientific communities; 3)The relation between Dayton C. Miller and other American or European physicists. The themes I am willing to analyze are important in developing the history of relativity, in particular the history of the reception and circulation of relativity in the American scientific community.
18-nov-2010
Michelson-Morley ; relativity ; Einstein, ether-drift
Settore FIS/08 - Didattica e Storia della Fisica
Settore M-STO/05 - Storia della Scienza e delle Tecniche
European Society for the History of Science (ESHS)
Dayton C. Miller's ether-drift experiments / R. Lalli. ((Intervento presentato al 4. convegno International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) tenutosi a Barcelona nel 2010.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/148720
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