How the Michelson and Morley experiment was reinterpreted by special relativity

Abstract

We elucidate how different theoretical assumptions bring about radically different interpretations of the same experimental result. We do this by analyzing special relativity as it was originally formulated. Then, we examine the relationship of the theory with the result of the Michelson and Morley experiment. We point out that in diverse a historical context the same experiment can be thought of as providing different conceptualizations of phenomena. This demonstrates why special relativity prevailed over its rival theories. This theory made a new reinterpretation of the experiment by associating it with a novel phenomenon, namely, the invariance of the speed of light, a phenomenon that was not the one originally investigated. This leads us to an understanding of how this experiment could have been interpreted in a completely different historical context.