In 1909 Robert Millikan devised an ingenious experiment to figure out the charge of an electron using a drop of oil. Let's talk about this Nobel Prize winning experiment.

AstronomyCast 371: The Eddington Eclipse Experiment

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

At the turn of the 20th Century, Einstein’s theory of relativity stunned the physics world, but the experimental evidence needed to be found. And so, in 1919, another respected astronomer, Arthur Eddington, observed the deflection of stars by the gravity of the Sun during a solar eclipse. Here’s the story of that famous experiment.

AstronomyCast 370: Kaufmann Bucherer Neumann Experiments

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

One of the most amazing implications of Einstein's relativity is the fact that the inertial mass of an object depends on its velocity. That sounds like a difficult thing to test, but that's exactly what happened through a series of experiments performed by Kaufmann, Bucherer, Neumann and others.

AstronomyCast 369: The Fizeau Experiment

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

Light is tricky stuff, and it took scientists hundreds of years to puzzle out what this stuff is. But they poked and prodded at it with many clever experiments to try to measure its speed, motion and interaction with the rest of the Universe. For example, the Fizeau Experiment, which ran light through moving water to see if that caused a difference.

AstronomyCast 368: Searching for the Ether Wind (The Michelson–Morley Experiment)

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

Waves move through a medium, like water or air. So it seemed logical to search for a medium that light waves move through. The Michelson-Morley Experiment attempted to search for this medium, known as the “luminiferous aether”. The experiment gave a negative result, and helped set the stage for the theory of General Relativity.

AstronomyCast 367: Spitzer Does Exoplanets

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay