Comments on: Fabry, Perot, and their wonderful interferometer (1897, 1899)

By: skullsinthestars

skullsinthestars — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:04:11 +0000

Really, either statement is accurate. The wave amplitude is divided into a transmitted and reflected piece at each mirror.

By: demonelf

demonelf — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:18:12 +0000

You state that the wave is divided but perhaps you mean that the beam is divided into separate waves. Please clarify this.

By: skullsinthestars

skullsinthestars — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:49:24 +0000

I’m not sure it’s saying much to say my website goes down easier than B&W…

By: Personal Demon

Personal Demon — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:18:46 +0000

Just wanted you to know that I’m reviewing this as a refresher for a current project. This website goes down a bit easier than Born & Wolf! (Oh, who am I kidding… I’m reading Born & Wolf too.)

By: skullsinthestars

skullsinthestars — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:10:51 +0000

Wade wrote: “Old science can seem fusty, but when you look back at the first-hand reports, it’s just as exciting as anything being done today.”

Agreed! There’s lots of interesting experimental detail in the old papers that I find fascinating, as well.

“When I’ve read hundred-year-old books about things like aether theories, they’re much harder for me to interpret.”

They’re definitely harder to deal with, but often quite rewarding! When I wrote my post on Arago’s experiment, it was very illuminating to go back to Newton’s corpuscular theory of light and understand how refraction could be justified with such an assumption.

By: Wade Walker

Wade Walker — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:22:20 +0000

I love this, because it really gives you the sense of how groundbreaking this science was 100 years ago. Old science can seem fusty, but when you look back at the first-hand reports, it’s just as exciting as anything being done today.

That said, it’s probably easier to get that feeling about Fabry and Perot’s work since it ended up being on the main stream of science and is still in use today.

When I’ve read hundred-year-old books about things like aether theories, they’re much harder for me to interpret. I think it’s because many of the concepts they discuss didn’t stand the test of time, so there are fewer ideas in common between me and the authors.

By: Let’s Read the Internet! Week 2 « Arcsecond

Let’s Read the Internet! Week 2 « Arcsecond — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:50:21 +0000

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