Meet Albert Abraham Michelson
The first American to win the Nobel prize was also the first Jeiwsh person to win the Nobel Prize for physics
The Jewish-American physicist, Albert Abraham Michelson, was the first American to win a Noble Prize, in 1907, as well as the first Jew to win the prize for physics. Michelson invented the first interferometer, named after him, and proved that the speed of light does not depend on the scale in which it is measured, - a discovery that led to the development of the theory of special relativity.
Albert Abraham Michelson
Michelson (December 19 1852 - May 9 1931) was born in Prussia, now Poland. When he was two-years-old, his family moved to the USA, and he spent his childhood in California and Nevada.
After graduating from high school, he began studying in the U.S. Naval Academy. Though he did excel in seamanship, but his achievements in science earned him a spot as an instructor in physics and chemistry in the academy.
At the age of 29 he quit his job at the academy and joined the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, where he conducted in 1887 with Edward Morley the Michelson-Morley experiment - one of the most important experiments in the history of physics. The experiment's goal was to check earth's speed through the stationary luminiferous aether, which was then considered practically a scientific fact. Though they did not mean to prove or disprove that "fact", the experiment's results became the first substantial piece of evidence against it, after the two were unable measure the aether, despite their many attempts.
The experiment's importance was also in that it helped develop Interferometry, and also helped in the acceptance of Einstein's theory of special relativity. For this work, Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1907. 16 years later he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and even has a crater on the moon named after him.
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