Physicist Albert A. Michelson received the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing an interferometer, which incorporates a translucent mirror to divide a beam of light waves, route them through different channels, recombine them and create patterns to measure precise lengths and light velocities. He founded the Department of Physics at Case School of Applied Science and was the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in any scientific discipline.
However, Michelson is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Western Reserve University chemistry professor Edward. W. Morley on the Michelson-Morley experiment, which disproved the existence of the “luminiferous aether,” the substance through which scientists previously believed light moved.
