Asri-unix.500
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utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!KLH@MIT-AI
Wed Jan 13 21:36:05 1982
Question on Michelson-Morley experiment
From: Ken Harrenstien <KLH MIT-AI AT>
Apologies to those receiving duplicates.  I was reading through
a friend's pile of old magazines the other day, and came
across a curious statement.
       In the November 1979 issue of ANALOG there is a guest
editorial titled "Beyond Relativity" by G. Harry Stine.  It
is a fairly standard treatise on Einstein, the nature of science,
and so forth, at least until page 161.  At that point there is
a paragraph which made me blink several times:

       "And, while it is true that Michelson and Morley did not find
       the expected 60 kilometer per second differential that would
       have confirmed the existence of the luminiferous ether, THEY
       DID FIND A DIFFERENCE OF ABOUT 8 KILOMETERS PER SECOND!"
        (caps are italics in original)

       There is more following this, to the effect that these results
have been duplicated repeatedly, and it seems as if the speed of light
is not, in fact, independent of the motion of the observer!

       Naturally I am very curious to know what more knowledgeable
readers might have to say about this, or the article itself if they
can find it.  Is the quote, for example, a correct statement of
fact?  Is G. Stine given to wild conjectures or distortions?  (Doesn't
strike me that way, though.)  Considering the desperate search of
SF for holes in the lightspeed limit, I'm a little surprised that
Analog doesn't seem to have followed up on that in later issues.
Perhaps somebody has already explained it away?

--Ken

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