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Authorised form of nameMichelson; Albert Abraham (1852 - 1931); physicist
Dates1852 - 1931
NationalityAmerican
Place of birthStzrelno, Poland, Europe
Date of birth19 December 1852
Place of deathPasadena, California, USA
Date of death09/05/1931
Occupationphysicist
Research fieldSpectroscopy
Physics
Optics
Metrology
ActivityEducation:
United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (1869-1873)
Career:
Science Instructor at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (1875-1879); began work on accurately measuring the speed of light (1878); travelled to Europe (1880); resigned from the U.S. Navy (1891); professor of physics at the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland (1883); professor of physics at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts (1889-1892); first head of department of physics at University of Chicago (1892-1929); retired (1929).
Medals and prizes:
Matteucci Medal 1903
Nobel Prize (Physics) 1907
Elliott Cresson Medal 1912
Henry Draper Medal 1916
Albert Medal 1920
Gold Medal of RAS 1923
Franklin Medal 1923
Duddell Medal and Prize 1929
Membership categoryForeign Member
Date of election27/11/1902
Age at election50
ProposerJoseph Larmor
James Emerson Reynolds
Alfred Bray Kempe
William Thomas Blanford
Charles Vernon Boys
Robert Henry Scott
RSActivityMedals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1907
RelationshipsParents:
Samuel Michelson and Rozalia Przyłubska.
Spouse: 1) Margaret Hemingway (1877-1898) 2) Edna Stanton (1899)
Children: Two sons and a daughter from his first marriage, and three daughters from his second marriage.
OtherInfoEstablished the speed of light as a fundamental constant.
The first American to win the Nobel Prize in science.
Remembered for his work on hyperfine structure; fine structure; the Mchelson-Morley experiment; Michelson-Gale-Pearson experiment; the Michelson interferometer; and the Michelson stellar interferometer.
Royal Society Obituary or MemoirClick to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DSB
References:
G V R Born, FRS, 'The wide-ranging family history of Max Born' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 219-262
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1932-1935 vol l pp 18-25, plate, by Hugh Frank Newall
CodeNA721
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1902/25Michelson, Albert Abraham: certificate of election to the Royal Society
NLB/9/770Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Richard Tetley Glazebrook, Fellow of the Royal Society11 July 1894
NLB/18/759Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Professor [A] Michelson9 May 1899
NLB/18/697Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Professor [A] Michelson23 April 1899
MC/22/248Letter from Albert [Abraham] Michelson, The University of Chicago, Ryerson Physical Laboratory, to the Secretaries of the Royal Society10 November 1907
NLB/36/888Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Robarts Lubbock & Company8 January 1908
NLB/36/666Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Albert Abraham Michelson, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, Grand Hotel, Trafalgar Square, W.C.28 November 1907
NLB/36/881Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Robarts Lubbock & Company7 January 1908
NLB/61/162Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [John] Joly, FRS26 May 1921
NLB/65/401Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Albert Abraham] Michelson, FRS26 October 1923
NLB/73/360Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Prof. [Hugh Frank] Newall, FRS23 June 1931
NLB/73/352Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Prof [Hugh Frank] Newall, FRS19 June 1931
MC/23/298Letter from [Albert Abraham] Michelson, The University of Chicago, Ryerson Physical Laboratory, to Alfred Bray Kempe, Treasurer, Royal Society2 January 1908
NLB/36/889Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Albert Abraham Michelson, Foreign Member of the Royal Society8 January 1908
ACS/1/1/315Letter from [Joseph Ernest] Petavel, Bushy Park, Teddington, Middlesex, to [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton [Esquire], F. R. S., 40 Chester Square, London, S. W.12 March 1921
MC/22Volume 22 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1907
ACS/1/1/269Letter from [Albert Abraham] Michelson, Paris, to [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton], 40 Chester Square S. W., London, England1 April 1921
ACS/1/1/268Letter from [Albert Abraham] Michelson, Hotel Cecil, Strand, London, W. C., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton10 March 1921
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