Edward Morley

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Edward Morley (1887)
Edward Morley (1887)

Edward Williams Morley (January 29, 1838 - February 24, 1923) was an American scientist famous for the Michelson-Morley experiment.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Morley was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Williams College in 1860.

[edit] Career

From 1869 to 1906 he was professor of chemistry at Western Reserve College (today Case Western Reserve University).

His best remembered work, which he did together with Albert Abraham Michelson in 1887, was the Michelson–Morley experiment. Neither he nor Michelson ever considered that it disproved the aether hypothesis. However, others did, and it ultimately led to Einstein's theory of relativity. Morley also worked with Dayton Miller on positive aether experiments after his work with Michelson.

Morley also worked on the oxygen composition of the atmosphere, thermal expansion, and the velocity of light in a magnetic field.

[edit] Honors

Morley was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1895) and president of the American Chemical Society (1899). Morley won the Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London (1907) and the Elliott Cresson Medel (1912) awarded by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for important contributions to Chemical Science. Willard Gibbs Medal of the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society (1899).

The lunar crater Morley was named for him. The Morley Elementary School in West Hartford was also named for him. His home in West Hartford was made a National Historic Landmark in 1975.

[edit] External links

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Presidents of the American Chemical Society
1876-1900

John W. Draper (1876) · J. Lawrence Smith (1877) · Samuel W. Johnson (1878) · T. Sterry Hunt (1879) · Frederick A. Genth (1880) · Charles F. Chandler (1881) · John W. Mallet (1882) · James C. Booth (1883) · Albert B. Prescott (1886) · Charles A. Goessmann (1887) · T. Sterry Hunt (1888) · Charles F. Chandler (1889) · Henry B. Nason (1890) · George F. Barker (1891) · George C. Caldwell (1892) · Harvey W. Wiley (1893) · Edgar Fahs Smith (1895) · Charles B. Dudley (1896) · Charles E. Munroe (1898) · Edward W. Morley (1899) · William McMurtrie (1900)
1901-1925

Frank W. Clarke (1901) · Ira Remsen (1902) · John H. Long (1903) · Arthur Amos Noyes (1904) · Francis P. Venable (1905) · William F. Hillebrand (1906) · Marston T. Bogert (1907) · Willis R. Whitney (1909) · Wilder D. Bancroft (1910) · Alexander Smith (1911) · Arthur D. Little (1912) · Theodore W. Richards (1914) · Charles H. Herty (1915) · Julius Stieglitz (1917) · William H. Nichols (1918) · William A. Noyes (1920) · Edgar Fahs Smith (1921) · Edward C. Franklin (1923) · Leo H. Baekeland (1924) · James F. Norris (1925)
1926-1950

George D. Rosengarten (1927) · Samuel W. Parr (1928) · Irving Langmuir (1929) · William McPherson (1930) · Moses Gomberg (1931) · L.V. Redman (1932) · Arthur B. Lamb (1933) · Charles L. Reese (1934) · Roger Adams (1935) · Edward Bartow (1936) · Edward R. Weidlein (1937) · Frank C. Whitmore (1938) · Charles A. Kraus (1939) · Samuel C. Lind (1940) · William Lloyd Evans (1941) · Harry N. Holmes (1942) · Per K. Frolich (1943) · Thomas Midgley, Jr. (1944) · Carl S. Marvel (1945) · Bradley Dewey (1946) · W. Albert Noyes, Jr. (1947) · Charles A. Thomas (1948) · Linus Pauling (1949) · Ernest H. Volwiler (1950)
1951-1975

N. Howell Funnan (1951) · Edgar C. Britton (1952) · Farrington Daniels (1953) · Harry L. Fisher (1954) · Joel H. Hildebrand (1955) · John C. Warner (1956) · Roger J. Williams (1957) · Clifford F. Rassweiler (1958) · John C. Bailar, Jr. (1959) · Albert L. Elder (1960) · Arthur C. Cope (1961) · Karl Folkers (1962) · Henry Eyring (1963) · Maurice H. Arveson (1964) · Charles C. Price (1965) · William J. Sparks (1966) · Charles G. Overberger (1967) · Robert W. Cairns (1968) · Wallace R. Brode (1969) · Byron Riegel (1970) · Melvin Calvin (1971) · Max Tishler (1972) · Alan C. Nixon (1973) · Bernard S. Friedman (1974) · William J. Bailey (1975)
1976-2000

Glenn T. Seaborg (1976) · Henry A. Hill (1977) · Anna J. Harrison (1978) · Gardner W. Stacy (1979) · James D. D`Ianni (1980) · Albert C. Zettlemoyer (1981) · Robert W. Parry (1982) · Fred Basolo (1983) · Warren D. Niederhauser (1984) · Ellis K. Fields (1985) · George C. Pimentel (1986) · Mary L. Good (1987) · Gordon L. Nelson (1988) · Clayton F. Callis (1989) · Paul G. Gassman (1990) · S. Allen Heininger (1991) · Ernest L. Eliel (1992) · Helen M. Free (1993) · Ned D. Heindel (1994) · Brian M. Rushton (1995) · Ronald Breslow (1996) · Paul S. Anderson (1997) · Paul H.L. Walter (1998) · Edel Wasserman (1999) · Daryle H. Busch (2000)
2001-present

Attila E. Pavlath (2001) · Eli M. Pearce (2002) · Elsa Reichmanis (2003) · Charles P. Casey (2004) · William F. Carroll, Jr. (2005) · E. Ann Nalley (2006) · Catherine T. Hunt (2007)