Speed of light, the vanished points of reference

摘要

At the suggestion of H.A. Lorentz, Michelson's famous experiment of 1881 was repeated in 1887 because of an alleged error pointed out by Potier. By overlooking a minor omission when compounding the newer data, the suggested correction did not materially change the original conclusion, namely, that light was propagated with constant speed (c) irrespective of the motion of its source or observer, contrary to classical Galilean principles. Though universally accepted, careful analysis reveals that, aside from the computational error, old forgotten actual astronomical data militate against this interpretation. Bypassing the limiting constant (c) may therefore open the road to advances in optics.