How Luminiferous Aether Led to Relativity

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ Uploaded 11-05-20 Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://pbsspacetime.com/ Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime As the 19th century came to a close, physicists were feeling pretty satisfied with the state of their science. The great edifice of physical theory seemed complete. A few minor experiments remained to verify everything. Little did those physicists know that one of those experiments would bring the entire structure crashing down paving the way for the physics revolution of the 20th century. Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Sarah Wells and Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, and Pedro Osinski Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber Camera Operator: Bahaar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown and Andrew Kornhaber End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRl6-nb4iOnsij-vnpAjp0Q #space #astrophysics #sciencehistory A Special Note from writer Sarah Wells: Sarah Wells would like to dedicate the writing and inspiration for this episode to Louis Colonna-Romano, a Clark University physics instructor who told the story of Albert Michelson's fantastic "failure" to generations of physics freshmen. Lou's kind mentorship and infectious enthusiasm for physics inspired every student who came into his office, including this video's writer. Special Thanks to Our Patreon Supporters! Big Bang Supporters Alexander Tamas David Nicklas Fabrice Eap Juan Benet Morgan Hough Radu Negulescu Quasar Christina Oegren Mark Heising Vinnie Falco Hypernova Chuck Zegar Danton Spivey Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner Hank S John Hofmann John Pollock John R. Slavik Jordan Young Joseph Salomone Julian Tyacke Mathew Matthew O'Connor Matthew Ryan Syed Ansar Timothy McCulloch william bryan Gamma Ray Burst Supporters A G Adrian Hatch AlecZero Andreas Nautsch Andrew Richmond Bradley Jenkins Brandon labonte Brandon Lattin Brian Blanchard Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Lyons David Bethala David Hughes DFaulk Eric Kiebler Frederic Simon Geoffrey Short Graydon Goss Greg Smith Jennifer Crosley John Funai John Robinson Josh Thomas Justin Waters Kevin Lee Kevin Warne Kyle Hofer Malte Ubl Mark Daniel Cohen Michael Conroy Mirik Gogri Nick Virtue Nick Wright Nickolas Andrew Freeman Oliver and Kiersten Thamm Patrick Sutton Paul Rose Protius Protius Robert Ilardi Scott Gossett Sean Warniaha Shane Calimlim Simon Oliphant Steve Bradshaw Tatiana Vorovchenko Tim Stephani Tonyface Tybie Fitzhugh Yannick Weyns Yurii Konovaliuk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices