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Science and the Instrument-maker: Michelson, Sperry, and the Speed of Light

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dc.contributor.author Hughes, Thomas Parke en
dc.date.accessioned 2007-09-27T18:34:36Z en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2013-03-18T17:59:22Z
dc.date.available 2007-09-27T18:34:36Z en_US
dc.date.available 2013-03-18T17:59:22Z
dc.date.issued 1976
dc.identifier.citation Hughes, Thomas Parke. 1976. "<a href="https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/2436">Science and the Instrument-maker: Michelson, Sperry, and the Speed of Light</a>." <em>Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology</em>, (37) 1–18. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810258.37.1">https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810258.37.1</a>. en
dc.identifier.issn 0081-0258
dc.identifier.uri http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810258.37.1
dc.description.abstract This essay focuses on the cooperative efforts between A. A. Michelson, physicist, and Elmer Ambrose Sperry, inventor, to produce the instrumentation for the determination of the speed of light. At the conclusion of experiments made in 1926, Michelson assigned the Sperry instruments the highest marks for accuracy. The value of the speed of light accepted by many today (299,792.5 km&amp;sol;sec) varies only 2.5 km/sec from that obtained using the Sperry octagonal steel mirror. The main problems of producing the instrumentation, human error in the communication of ideas to effect that instrumentation, a brief description of the experiments to determine the speed of light, and the analysis and evaluation of the results are discussed. en
dc.format.extent 7748984 bytes en_US
dc.format.extent 1186639 bytes en_US
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf en_US
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf en_US
dc.language.iso en_US en_US
dc.relation.ispartof Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology en
dc.title Science and the Instrument-maker: Michelson, Sperry, and the Speed of Light en
dc.type Journal Article en
dc.identifier.eISSN 1948-6006 en_US
dc.identifier.doi 10.5479/si.00810258.37.1
rft.jtitle Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology
rft.issue 37
rft.spage 1
rft.epage 18
dc.description.SIUnit No SI Author en
dc.citation.spage 1
dc.citation.epage 18


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