Edward W. Morley

Edward W. Morley Edward Williams Morley (January 29, 1838 – February 24, 1923) was an American chemist and physicist, famous for the Michelson–Morley experiment. Morley was elected in 1892 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1897 to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and in 1903 to the American Philosophical Society. He received in 1907 the Davy Medal, in 1912 the Elliott Cresson Medal, and in 1917 the Willard Gibbs Award. In 1902, 1908, and 1910, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Quotes The Discovery (observation) discovery that matter consists of an aggregation of infinitesimal units or individuals was made by Dalton; but the first suggestion of this kind had been made at least twenty-two centuries before Dalton. Leucippus and Democritus were the earliest recorded believers in this doctrine; Epicurus adopted it; Lucretius expounded it in strains of noble eloquence. But all the early suggestions were quite barren and unfruitful for the advancement of science, for no one before the present century was in a position to make any verifiable hypothesis; and science grows by means of hypotheses so closely in touch with facts as to be verifiable. A Completed Chapter in the History of the Atomic Theory Science 4 87 1896 241–255 https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.4.87.241 (address delivered in August 1896 in Buffalo, New York by Morley upon his retirement as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) Neither the Consilience concordance of the experiments of a given series, nor the agreement of the result of series of experiments by different observers, can excuse us from search for sources of error. All sciences which have to do with measurement afford sufficient instances of the fact that our conclusions are to be received with a certain suspense of judgment. Are Further Experiments Needed for Determining the Atomic Weight of Oxygen? 23 February 1900 11 269 281–288 10.1126/science.11.269.281 https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.11.269.281 The importance of physical constants is, largely, that one of them holds condensed in small volume the essence of many observations, perhaps of all the observations which have ever been made in a given line. We have followed the motions of the planets with accurate observation for two hundred and fifty years. The number of observations is very great; the labor of consulting them would be enormous. But all their value has been extracted and condensed in a system of constants, seven for each planet. All planetary positions are wrapped up in these constants; from them, positions for the future can be unfolded as desired, with an accuracy corresponding to the accuracy with which the constants are known at a given time. A constant is compressed knowledge; it is like a seed, ready to grow and bud and blossom and fruit. The constants of chemistry are not so intricate as those of astronomy, and the labor of establishing them, although considerable in some cases, has not been so great as in the ease of astronomy. Fundamental chemical constants Journal of the Franklin Institute 174 2 1912 203–210 https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-S0016003212912028/first-page-pdf Quotes about Edward Williams Morley Morley's work on the Relative atomic mass atomic weight of oxygen, that of hydrogen being taken as unity, covered a period of 11 years. Much time was spent in the detection of constant errors, and in making "assurance doubly sure" as to the purity of his materials. No precaution was overlooked, for the highest possible accuracy was his aim.The determinations of atomic weight were made by two distinct methods. First, he effected the direct synthesis of water from weighed quantities of its component elements. The hydrogen was weighed as occluded in palladium, 600 grams of that metal being used. Secondly, he determined the density of the two gases, using the correction mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The results obtained checked each other within the admissible range of experimental uncertãinty, and later determinations by other chemists have differed but slightly from Morley's. His final value for the atomic weight of oxygen was 15.879. The outstanding uncertainty is probably not much greater than 1 part in 10,000.It is evident that this research of Mor1ey's upon atomic weights was quite as much physical as chemical. Even while he was engaged upon it he found time to cooperate with others in some purely physical investigations. He worked with A. A. Michelson in the famous attempt to determine the relative motion of the earth and the luminiferous ether, and also upon the possibility of establishing a light wave as an absolute standard of length. Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, Biographical memoir, Edward Williams Morley, 1838-1923 U.S. Government Printing Office Volume XXI, Tenth Memoir, Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1927 1–8 https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/morley-e-w.pdf (quote from p. 4; offprint from 1926 volume of Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences) External links Category:1838 births Category:1923 deaths Category:Academics from the United States Category:Chemists from the United States Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:People from Connecticut Category:Physicists from the United States Category:Williams College alumni