"It is... striking that the Michelson laboratory was, properly speaking, cosmic. There, the most artificial physics imaginable was referred to the space of the world. The decimal which they wished to reveal by means of the interferometer, the decimal which is of the order of three-fourths of the wavelength of a vibration of light, was related to the orbital speed of the earth, a speed of the order of eighteen miles per second. The precision of such a question... this attempt to experience the immobility of space in its cosmic significance, ought to set the metaphysicians thinking who study the place of man in the world; if only these metaphysicians would give their attention to the lengthy discursive processes which lead science to build new intuitions."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Nobel laureates in PhysicsJewsAgnosticsNobel laureates from the United StatesPhysicists from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Gaston Bachelard, "The Philosophic Dialectic of the Concepts of Relativity" (1949) in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist ed. , Tr. Forrest W. Williams.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_A._Michelson
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Albert A. Michelson
Albert Abraham Michelson (19 December 1852 – 9 May 1931) was an American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment. In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in sciences.
7 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Albert A. Michelson →
Related Quotes
"While it is never safe to affirm that the future of Physical Science has no marvels in store even more astonishing th…"
"It appears, from all that precedes, reasonably certain that if there be any relative motion between the earth and the…"
"Before entering into these details, however, it may be well to reply to the very natural question: What would be the …"
"Now, the velocity of wave propagation can be seen, without the aid of any mathematical analysis, to depend on the ela…"
"Relativity was born of an epistemological shock; it was born of the "failure" of the Michelson experiment. ...Is so l…"
"It has been reported that when Michelson was asked towards the end of his life, why he had devoted such a large fract…"
"I never cared a bit for philology; my chief aim has been throughout to illustrate the social condition of the English…"
"Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in Canaan. Jacob built an altar there and nam…"
"Come to me, all you that need instruction, and learn in my school.| Why do you admit that you are ignorant and do not…"
"While I was still young, before I went on my travels,"