Crisis
- 1887 – the Michelson-Morley experiment (MMX) produces the famous null result. A small drift is seen, but it is too small to support any "fixed" aether theory, and is so small that it might be due to experimental error.
- Many physicists dust off Stokes' work, and dragging becomes the "standard solution"
- 1887 to 1888 – Heinrich Hertz verifies the existence of electromagnetic waves.
- 1889 – George FitzGerald proposes the Contraction Hypothesis, which suggests that the measurements are null due to changes in the length in the direction of travel through the aether.
- 1892 – Oliver Lodge demonstrates that aether drag is invisible around rapidly moving celestial bodies.
- 1895 – Lorentz proposes independently the Contraction Hypothesis.
- 1902 to 1904 – Morley and Morley conduct a number of MM experiments with a 100 ft interferometer, producing the null result.
- 1902 to 1904 – Lord Rayleigh and DeWitt Bristol Brace found no signs of double refraction (due to Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction) of moving bodies in the aether.
- 1903 – the Trouton-Noble experiment, based on an entirely different concept using electrical forces, also produces the null result
- 1905 – Miller and Morley's experiment data is published. Test of the Contraction Hypothesis has negative results. Test for aether dragging effects produces null result.
- 1908 – the Trouton-Rankine experiment, another experiment based on electrical effects, does not detect the Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction.
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Luminiferous Aether, Timeline
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