Evening star., 1933-04-24
MEASURES SPEED
OF EARTH'S MOTION
Scientist Announces Determ-
nation by Direct OBJ
servation to Academy.
tContinued From First Page.)

extraordinary qualities. Light also
travelled through ether at the known
speed of approximately 10000 miles a
second. Now if beam of light was
sent out in the direction Of the move
ment of the earth and. at a carefully
measured distance, reflected back to Its
starting point it should get back sooner
than a similar beam sent out stimuli
taneously in a direction at right angles
to that of the earth'S motion. The
earth would be moving to meet one
returning beam and speeding away
from the other.
So. Prof. Nicholson believed the diff
ference in the time of return of the
two reflected beams would be measure
of the speed of the earth. Logically,
1t was universally admitted, his position
was unassailabe, The quantities in
volved were extremely minute but still
large enough to be detected by the un-
cannily sensitive interferometer with
some allowance for experimental error
The experiment was tried-over and
over again. 1t was almost unbelieve
able. But the fact remained that no
significant difference could be detected
This experiment showed conclusively
that the earth was not moving. On the
other hand, common sense showed that
1t was Science found itself face 70
face with the worst quandary 1t had
known since the days of Copernicus.
Various tentative. and extremely weird,
explanations were advanced. First OF
these was the strange Lorens hypothesis
that an object automatically shrunk III
the direction of the earths motion.
That is Prof Michelson's table was
Just sufficiently shortened as to coun-
teract the difference in time Of the
two returning light beams. That hy-
pothesis still has adherents-among
them. it was indicated, Prof. Miller
himself.
Eclipsed BY Einstein Theory.
But the strange Lorens theory which
fitted the facts very nicely, but was In
capable of experimental verification at
that time, was soon echpsed by an
other for which experimental data
could be obtained-the Einstein theory.
Einstein showed that Michelson's re-
suits were inevitable if certain hyper
dimensional structure of the universe
were postulated There was no such
thing as ether, he said. The place Of
this hypothetical substance was to be
taken by his FOUR -dimenSional space
itself distorted in the neighborhood OF
great masses of matter such as the
solar system.
The scientific SNOWFALL had started
down hill and it has been rolling ever
since. gathering size and strangeness as
it goes 1t was not so much the spe-
cific facts themselves that were signifl-
cant. especially to the layman. Only a
comparatively few mathematicians could
understand them. What was significant
was the psychology of it all. At last
the human mind was set free from the
rrrith
mensions and let loose in a hyperdi
mensional creation-a sort OF Alice in
Wonderland universe where everything
was upside down. Space and time, past
and future, were all mixed up. Hitherto
mans concept of the universe, the rela-
twists held, had been comparable to a
blind earth worms concept of the
world.
The learned world very largely &C
cepted Einstein. A few did not. That
great American physicist Nicholson,
the man who started it ALL never
swallowed relativity without reserva-
tons. He still insisted that there must
be an ether. 7ut he couldn't find It,
Five years ago, toward the end of his
life, he reported to the American OPP
tical Society here the results of his
most recent repetitions Of his expert
ment in the light Of much new data
that had been developed. They were
almost exactly the same as at first
A little sadly the grand old man of
American science propounded the para
dox. There was certainly ether, he said.
But 1t was equally certain that it
couldn't be found by an experiment
which, from all the dictates of COM
mon sense certainly would detect it If
there was anything to detect.
LIE Maitre's Cosnic Atom.
Another who refused to forego ether
and common-sense structure of the
universe was Prof. Miller and he
worked patiently year after year,
repeating in various forms the Michel
on-Morley test-making 1t ever more
and more delicate. About eight years
ago he announced that he had obtained
positive results. They did not seem
to meet with much acceptance Michel
son himself was doubtful and died still
puzzled by the great cosmic paradox.
Since then great mathematicians have
brought out hypotheses compared with
which even that of Einstein seems con-
servative and commonplace-for exam
pie, the Belgian priest LIE Maitre, here
this Winter, with his cosmic atom
1t Is against this background that
Millers announcement today assumes
Its historical significance For the
hrst time, he says, he has actually
measured the motion Of the earth
without an outside point OF reference
and his measurements agree fairly we'll
with the results of astronomical cal
culatlons. He may have succeeded
where Nicholson and Morley failed and
thus, 1t is possible, brought the mind
OF men back out Of the enchanted
wonderland to the familiar universe of
the human senses.
The great difficulty experienced by
Prof. Miller, he reported today. was
In separating the effect Of the earth's
movement around the sun and it's
movement as part Of the solar system.
The first motion in an elliptical path
and six months in one direction and
SIX months in the opposite direction.
The second and much greater move
ment is in straight line and always
IN the same direction. The problem
was to separate the two through de-
eecting the seasonal effect.
Worked on Problem 35 Years.
Previous computations had indicated
ehat the sun and its stars were follow
ing northWard course toward the con-
stellation of Hercules as an apex. Prof.
Miller made more than 200, 900 interfer-
ometer observations. but they failed to
1T in with the observed facts. He
worked on the problem for more than
S5 years. Last year he recalculated his
data on the assumption that the abso-
lutte motion of the system was south
ward-along the same line but in the
opposite direction, and found that the
tnterferometer readings agreed closely
with astronomical calculations.
There remain some differences. This
may be due. Prof Miller said, to the
shortening Of the length of his instru-
ments in the line of the earthls motion,
as poStulated by the Lorenz hypothesis,
OR to the dragging of ether by the
earth. He had made, he announced,
''for the first time a definite, quanti-
tative determination of the absolute
motion of the solar system and a posi-
tive detection of the motion of the