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In 1887, working with Edward Morley, Albert Michelson tried to detect the Earth's motion through a hypothesized "luminiferous ether" by measuring tiny differences in the speed of light — and found none, a null result that became one of the most consequential in the history of physics. In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, the first American to win a Nobel in any science. He founded the physics departments at the Case School of Applied Science and the University of Chicago.