Edward Williams Morley was an American scientist known for his precise and accurate measurement of the atomic weight of oxygen, and for the Michelson–Morley experiment.
Edward W. Morley
Morley c. 1885
Michelson–Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment was an attempt to measure the motion of the Earth relative to the luminiferous aether, a supposed medium permeating space that was thought to be the carrier of light waves. The experiment was performed between April and July 1887 by American physicists Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and published in November of the same year.
Michelson and Morley's interferometric setup, mounted on a stone slab that floats in an annular trough of mercury
Fringe pattern produced with a Michelson interferometer using white light. As configured here, the central fringe is white rather than black.