Albert Abraham Michelson

“ To account for the phenomenon of aberration Fresnel supposes the luminiferous ether at rest, the earth moving through this medium without communicating any perceptible part of its motion. On this theory it has been shown [1] that it should be possible to detect a difference of the velocity of light in two directions at right angles. As no such difference was observed, it would seem to follow that Fresnel's hypothesis is incorrect. ”

“ If the relative motion be assumed to follow an exponential law it may be represented by
where is the velocity of the earth and h, the height above the surface.
Suppose falls to of its surface value in one hundred kilometers. Then in fifteen meters, which is the difference of level of the two horizontal pipes
. Substituting this for v in the equation for we have
. Putting and we find fringes.
As the actual displacement was certainly less than a twentieth of a fringe, it would follow that the earth's influence upon the ether extended to distances of the order of the earth's diameter. ”

“ The earth passes through the ether (or rather allows the ether to pass through its entire mass) without appreciable influence. The length of all bodies is altered (equally?) by their motion through the ether. The earth in its motion drags with it the ether even at distances of many thousand kilometers from its surface.
↑ This Journal, November, 1887. ↑ On account of the inequality of the angles of incidence and reflection there will be a slight difference between the real and apparent positions of the double image. ”