Michelson's Nobel Lecture
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NOBEL LECTURES IN PHYSICS 1901-1921 NOBEL LECTURES INCLUDING PRESENTATION SPEECHES AND LAUREATES BIOGRAPHIES PHYSICS CHEMISTRY PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE LITERATURE PEACE ECONOMIC SCIENCES NOBEL LECTURES INCLUDING PRESENTATION SPEECHES AND LAUREATES' BIOGRAPHIES PHYSICS 1901-1921 b World Scientific b Singapore lNew Jersey · London lHong Kong Published for the Nobel Foundation in 1998 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. P 0 Box 128, Farrer Road, Singapore 912805 USA office: Suite lB, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE NOBEL LECTURES IN PHYSICS (1901-1921) All rights reserved. ISBN 981-02-3401-5 Printed in Singapore. Foreword Since 1901 the Nobel Foundation has published annually , Les Prix Nobel with reports from the Nobel award ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo as well as the biographies and Nobel lectures of the Laureates. In order to make the lectures available to people with special interests in the different prize fields the Foundation gave Elsevier Publishing Company the right to publish in English the lectures for 1901-1970, which were published in 1964-1972 through the following volumes: Physics 1901-1970 4 vols. Chemistry 1901-1970 4 vols. Physiology or Medicine 1901-1970 4 vols. Literature 1901-1967 1 vol. Peace 1901-1970 3 vols. Since the Elsevier series has been out of print for many years the Nobel Foundation has given World Scientific Publishing Company the right to publish these Nobel lectures, biographies and presentation speeches. The Nobel Foundation is very pleased that the intellectual and spiritual message to the world laid down in the laureates’ lectures will, thanks to the efforts of World Scientific, reach new readers all over the world. Bengt Samuelsson Michael Sohlman Chairman of the Board Executive Director Stockholm, March 1998 Contents Foreword 1901 WILHELM CONRAD RöNTGEN Motivation 1 Presentation by C. T. Odhner 3 Biography W. C. Röntgen 6 1902 HENDRIK ANTOON LORENTZ and PIETER ZEEMAN Motivation 9 Presentation by Hj. Thée1 11 The theory of electrons and the propagation of light, by H. A. Lorentz 14 Biography H. A. Lorentz 30 Light radiation in a magnetic field, by P. Zeeman 33 Biography P. Zeeman 41 1903 ANTOINE HENRI BECQUEREL, PIERRE CURIE and MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE Motivation 45 Presentation by H. R. Törnebladh 47 On radioactivity, a new property of matter, by A. H. Becquerel 52 Biography A. H. Becquerel 71 Radioactive substances, especially radium, by P. Curie 73 Biography P. Curie 79 Biography M. Sklodowska-Curie 82 1904 LORD RAYLEIGH (JOHN WILLIAM STRUTT) Motivation 85 Presentation by J. E. Cederblom 87 VIII CONTENTS The density of gases in the air and the discovery of argon, by Lord Rayleigh 90 Biography Lord Rayleigh 97 1905 PHILIPP EDUARD ANTON VON LENARD Motivation 99 Presentation by A. Lindstedt 101 On cathode rays, by P. E. A. von Lenard 105 Biography P. E. A. von Lenard 135 1906 JOSEPH JOHN THOMSON Motivation 139 Presentation by J. P. Klason 141 Carriers of negative electricity, by J. J. Thomson 145 Biography J. J. Thomson 154 1907 ALBERT ABRAHAM MICHELSON Motivation 157 Presentationby K. B. Hasselberg I59 Recent advances in spectroscopy, A. A. Michelson 166 Biography A. A. Michelson I79 1908 GABRIEL LIPPMANN Motivation 181 Presentation by K. B. Hasselberg 183 Colour photography, by G. Lippmann 186 Biography G. Lippmann 189 1909 GUGLIELMO MARCONI and CARL FERDINAND BRAUN Motivation 191 Presentation by H. Hildebrand 193 Wireless telegraphic communication, by G. Marconi 196 Biography G. Marconi 223 Electrical oscillations and wireless telegraphy, by C. F. Braun 226 Biography C. F. Braun 246 1910 JOHANNES DIDERIKVAN DEB WAALS Motivation 249 CONTENTS IX Presentation by O. Montelius 25I The equation of state for gases and liquids, by J. D. van der Waals 254 Biography J. D. van der Waals 266 1911 W ILHELM W IEN Motivation 269 Presentation by E. W. Dahlgren 271 On the laws of thermal radiation, by W. Wien 275 Biography W. Wien 287 1912 N ILS G USTAF D ALÉN Motivation 291 Presentation by H. G. Söderbaum 293 Biography N. G. Dalén 298 1913 H EIKE K AMERLINGH O NNES Motivation 301 Presentation by Th. Nordström 303 Investigations into the properties of substances at low tempera- tures, which have led, amongst other things, to the preparation of liquid helium, by H. Kamerlingh Onnes 306 Biography H. Kamerlingh Onnes 337 1914 M AX VON L AUE Motivation 341 Presentation by G. Granqvist 343 Concerning the detection of X-ray interferences, by M. von Laue 347 Biography M. von Laue 356 1915 W ILLIAM H ENRY B RAGG and W ILLIAM L AWRENCE B RAGG Motivation 361 Account of the Braggs’ work by G. Granqvist 363 Biography W. H. Bragg 368 The diffraction of X-rays by crystals, by W. L. Bragg 370 Biography W. L. Bragg 383 X CONTENTS 1916 (Prize not awarded) 385 1917 CHARLES G LOVER B ARKLA Motivation 387 Account of Barkla’s work by G. Granqvist 389 Characteristic Röntgen radiation, by C. G. Barkla 392 Biography C. G. Barkla 400 1918 MAX P LANCK Motivation 403 Presentation by A. G. Ekstrand 405 The genesis and present state of development of the quantum theory, by M. Planck 407 Biography M. Planck 419 1919 JOHANNES S TARK Motivation 421 Presentation by Å.G. Ekstrand 423 Structural and spectral changes of chemical atoms, by J. Stark 427 Biography J. Stark 436 1920 CHARLES-ÉDOUARD G UILLAUME Motivation 439 Presentation by Å. G. Ekstrand 441 Invar and elinvar, by C.-É. Guillaume 444 Biography C.-É. Guillaume 474 1921 ALBERT E INSTEIN Motivation 477 Presentation by S. Arrhenius 479 Fundamental ideas and problems of the theory of relativity, by A. Einstein 482 Biography A. Einstein 491 Name Index 493 Subject Index 499 Index of Biographies 500 Physics 1907 ALBERT ABRAHAM MICHELSON <<for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid>> Physics 1907 Presentation Speech* by Professor K. B. Hasselberg, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Academy of Sciences has decided to award this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics to Professor Albert A. Michelson of Chicago, for his optical precision instruments and the research which he has carried out with their help in the fields of precision metrology and spectroscopy. With untiring eagerness and, it can truly be said, with brilliant results, work is forging ahead today in every field of research in the natural sciences, and new information of ever greater significance is accumulating every day in unprecedented profusion. This is especially true in the case of the exact sciences - astronomy and physics - in which fields we are now obtaining solutions to problems, the mere mention of which up till a short while ago had to be regarded as unreal as Utopia itself. The reason for this gratifying development may be found in improvements in the methods and means of making observations and experiments, and also in the increase in accuracy brought about by these improvements in the quantitative examination of observed phenomena. Astronomy, the precision science par excellence, has not only thus acquired whole new branches, but has also undergone in its older parts a transfor- mation of more far-reaching significance than anything since the time of Galileo; and as for physics, it has developed remarkably as a precision science, in such a way that we can justifiably claim that the majority of all the great- est discoveries in physics are very largely based on the high degree of ac- curacy which can now be obtained in measurements made during the study of physical phenomena. We can judge how high our standards in this re- spect have risen from the fact that, for example, as recently as the begin- ning of the last century an accuracy of two to three hundredths of a milli- metre in a measurement of length would have been regarded as quite fantas- tic. Today, however, scientific research not only demands but achieves an * Owing to the decease of King Oscar II two days earlier, the presentation ceremony had to be cancelled. The speech, of which the text is rendered here, was therefore not delivered orally. 160 PHYSICS 1907 accuracy from ten to a hundred times as great. From this it is obvious how fundamental is the importance which must be attached to every step in this direction, for it is the very root, the essential condition, of our penetration deeper into the laws of physics - our only way to new discoveries. It is an advance of this kind which the Academy wishes to recognize with the Nobel Prize for Physics this year. Everyone is familiar with the signif- icance and scope of the uses to which the telescope and the microscope can be put as measuring instruments in precision physics; but a limit to the efficiency of these instruments has been reached, a limit which cannot be ex- ceeded appreciably, for both theoretical and practical reasons. Professor Michelson’s brilliant adaptation of the laws of light interference has, how- ever, perfected a group of measuring instruments, the so-called interfero- meters, based on those laws, which previously only had occasional uses, to such a degree that an increase in accuracy in measurement of from twenty to a hundred times what can be achieved with the best microscopes has been brought well within our grasp. This is due to the fact that, owing to the peculiar nature of the interference phenomena, the desired value - usually a length is measured -can be obtained in numbers of wavelengths of the type of light in use in the experiment directly from observation in the inter- ferometer of the changes in the image, caused by interference.