Michelson, Albert Abraham
. Michelson, Albert Abraham (1852-1931), German-born American physicist, known for his famous experiment to measure the velocity of the earth through the ether , a substance that scientists believed filled the universe. This experiment helped prove that the ether does not exist. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for developing extremely precise instruments and conducting important investigations with them, becoming the first American citizen to earn a Nobel Prize in the sciences. Michelson was born in Strelno (now Strzelno, Poland), brought to the United States as a child, and educated at the United States Naval Academy and at the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Paris. He was professor of physics at Clark University from 1889 to 1892, and from 1892 to 1929 was head of the department of physics at the University of Chicago. He determined the velocity of light with a high degree of accuracy, using instruments of his own design. In 1887 Michelson invented the inter