The Fizeau experiment was carried out by the French physicist Hippolyte Fizeau, who measured the speed of light in moving water. He split a beam of light, sent the two halves in opposite directions through tubes of flowing water, and observed the interference pattern they produced. The result showed that the water dragged the light along only partly, by a fraction that depended on the refractive index, in agreement with a formula proposed earlier by Augustin-Jean Fresnel for a hypothetical luminous ether. The experiment puzzled physicists for decades, until Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity explained it simply through the way velocities add. Einstein later said that the experiment had been among the most important influences on his thinking.
Before and after
- 5 August 1850Birth of Guy de Maupassant
- 18 August 1850Death of Honoré de Balzac
- 13 November 1850Birth of Robert Louis Stevenson
- 1851Construction of The Crystal Palace
- 1851Fizeau experiment
- from 11 January 1851 to 1 August 1864Taiping Rebellion
- 1 February 1851Death of Mary Shelley
- 28 June 1851Discovery of 6P/d'Arrest
- from 18 August 1851 to 3 February 1852Platine War
More in Science & technology
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.