Edward W. Morley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edward W. Morley
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Morley c. 1880
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| Born | January 29, 1838 |
| Died | February 24, 1923 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Williams College |
| Known for | Michelson–Morley experiment |
| Spouse(s) |
Imbella A. Birdsall
(m. 1888; died 1922) |
| Awards | Elliott Cresson Medal (1912) Davy Medal (1907) Willard Gibbs Award (1917) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Western Reserve College Western Reserve University |
Edward Williams Morley (born January 29, 1838 – died February 24, 1923) was an American scientist. He is well-known for two main things: his very careful measurements of the weight of oxygen atoms, and his work on the famous Michelson–Morley experiment.
Biography
Edward Morley was born in Newark, New Jersey. His parents were Anna Clarissa Treat and Reverend Sardis Brewster Morley. His family had lived in America for a long time and were of British background. He grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut. When he was a child, he was often sick. Because of this, his father taught him at home until he was nineteen years old.
In 1857, Morley went to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This was the same college his father had attended. He earned his first degree in 1860 and his master's degree in 1863. Around 1860, he started to focus more on optics (the study of light) and astronomy. He had loved chemistry since he was a child. In 1860–61, he set up a special instrument to measure star positions. He also built a device to record exact times. He used these to find the precise latitude of the college observatory. This was his first published work, shared in 1866.
His parents suggested he study at Andover Theological Seminary, which he finished in 1864. Here, he likely learned a lot of Hebrew. From 1866 to 1868, he taught at a private school. In 1868, he became a preacher in a small church in Ohio. Around the same time, he was offered a job as a chemistry professor at Western Reserve College. This college was in Hudson, Ohio, but later moved to Cleveland and became Case Western Reserve University. He stayed there until he retired in 1906. This job was a major turning point in his life. In 1873, he also became a chemistry professor at Cleveland Medical College. However, he left this job in 1888 to have more time for his own research. Before moving to Hudson, he married Miss Imbella A. Birdsall.
While living in Cleveland, Morley collected one of the best private libraries of chemistry magazines in America. He even included Russian journals and learned enough Russian to read them. After he retired from teaching, the university bought his library. They moved it to the chemistry lab, which was named after him. In 1906, he moved back to West Hartford, Connecticut. There, he built a small house and a lab for his personal studies of rocks and minerals.
Morley did not write many articles, only 55 in total. He passed away in 1923 at the Hartford Hospital, just a few months after his wife died. He had surgery before his death.
Research
Optics and Astronomy
Morley's most important work was in physics and optics. He worked closely with the physicist Albert A. Michelson for several years around 1887. Together, they designed and performed the Michelson–Morley experiment. They improved their methods many times to make their measurements more accurate. This experiment involved measuring the speed of light in different directions. They also took measurements at different times of the year as Earth moved around the Sun.
These careful measurements were meant to find out if the speed of light changed depending on its direction. However, Michelson and Morley always found that the speed of light stayed the same. It did not change based on the direction of measurement or Earth's position. This result is called a "null result" because they found no difference.
At the time, scientists thought light traveled through something called "luminiferous aether". This was like an invisible ocean that light waves moved through. Neither Morley nor Michelson believed their results proved the aether did not exist. But other scientists did. The results of the Michelson–Morley experiments helped Albert Einstein develop his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. Einstein's theory states that the speed of light is always constant, no matter who is measuring it or how they are moving.
Morley also worked with Dayton Miller on other experiments about the aether after his work with Michelson. Morley himself measured the speed of light when it passed through a strong magnetic field. He also studied how solid materials expand when they get hot, which is called thermal expansion.
Chemistry
At Western Reserve College, Morley had to teach chemistry, geology, and botany. This left him with little time for research. Still, in his first ten years at Hudson, he managed to publish five articles. Most of these were about making measurements very accurate.
In chemistry, his first field, Morley worked on finding the exact makeup of Earth's atmosphere. He also worked on the weights of the gases in it. His work on the atomic weight of oxygen took eleven years. He spent a lot of time making sure his instruments were perfect. He improved his measurement accuracy to be extremely precise, about 1 part in 10,000. In 1895, he announced a new value for the atomic weight ratio of oxygen to hydrogen. This was the most precise measurement of oxygen's atomic weight at that time. His research on oxygen's atomic weight was recognized as a National Historic Chemical Landmark in 1995.
Honors
Morley was the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1895. He was also the president of the American Chemical Society in 1899. He received the Davy Medal in 1907 from the Royal Society of London. This medal is named after the famous British chemist Sir Humphry Davy. In 1912, he won the Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute in Pennsylvania. This was for his important contributions to chemistry. He also received the Willard Gibbs Award in 1917.
A crater on the Moon is named Morley in his honor. The Morley Elementary School in West Hartford, Connecticut, is also named after him. So is the Morley Scientific Laboratory at Williams College. His house in West Hartford became a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
See also
In Spanish: Edward Morley para niños
