Albert Abraham Michelson quotes

Albert Abraham Michelson was a Polish-born physicist who became the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in sciences. Renowned for his precise measurements of the speed of light, his experiments laid the groundwork for modern physics. He contributed significantly to the development of optical instruments and precision metrology. Here are 5 of his quotes:

Now, the velocity of wave propagation can be seen, without the aid of any mathematical analysis, to depend on the elasticity of the medium and its density; for we can see that if a medium is highly elastic the disturbance would be propagated at a great speed.

Albert Abraham Michelson

The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote.

Albert Abraham Michelson

While it is never safe to affirm that the future of Physical Science has no marvels in store even more astonishing than those of the past, it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles to all the phenomena which come under our notice. It is here that the science of measurement shows its importance - where quantitative work is more to be desired than qualitative work. An eminent physicist remarked that the future truths of physical science are to be looked for in the sixth place of decimals.

Albert Abraham Michelson

Many instances might be cited, but these will suffice to justify the statement that "our future discoveries must be looked for in the sixth place of decimals."

Albert Abraham Michelson