How Can I Access Historic Articles from the American Journal of Science?

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Retrieving old articles from American scientific journals can be challenging, particularly for works published in the late 19th century. A user is specifically seeking the 1886 article "Influence of motion of the medium on the velocity of light" by Michelson and Morley, published in the American Journal of Science (AJS), but the AJS website only provides access to archives dating back to 1945. Suggestions for locating the article include checking university libraries that may offer interlibrary loans, using WorldCat to find nearby libraries with archived journals, and exploring specific library databases like the one from Carnegie Mellon University. There is also a mention of Fizeau's experiment as a significant proof of special relativity, highlighting its historical context.
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Hello.

Sorry, it's quite a double post with my previous one, but I hope you can help me.

I found nearly impossible to retrieve very old articles from American Scientific Journals. At least the Physical Review has its own archive, for a terrible price of $ 20 per article.

But I'm desperately trying to find "Influence of motion of the medium on the velocity of light" published in 1886 in the American Journal of Science (AJS) by Michelson and Morley. It is volume XXXI, p.377-386.

I looked up on AJS website, but their archive database dates back to 1945 only.

If anyone could provide me with an electronic version of the original article, or at least a place where to find / buy the oldest issues of AJS, or even a link to a website / a searcher who may have the article, I would be very grateful.

Thanks !

PS : Fizeau's experiment is in itself a very good proof of SR, all the more interesting as it was first meant to justify Fresnel aether's drag coefficient, and that only Einstein's SR was able to explain it correctly.
 
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If you are affiliated with a university library, you may be able to request it via "Interlibrary loan".

You may be able to visit a university library with archived journals:
Try the third link from
google: "American Journal of Science" site:worldcatlibraries.org
then enter a zip code to locate a nearby library... Then visit.
 
Myst said:
Hello.

Sorry, it's quite a double post with my previous one, but I hope you can help me.

I found nearly impossible to retrieve very old articles from American Scientific Journals. At least the Physical Review has its own archive, for a terrible price of $ 20 per article.

But I'm desperately trying to find "Influence of motion of the medium on the velocity of light" published in 1886 in the American Journal of Science (AJS) by Michelson and Morley. It is volume XXXI, p.377-386.

I looked up on AJS website, but their archive database dates back to 1945 only.

If anyone could provide me with an electronic version of the original article, or at least a place where to find / buy the oldest issues of AJS, or even a link to a website / a searcher who may have the article, I would be very grateful.

Thanks !

PS : Fizeau's experiment is in itself a very good proof of SR, all the more interesting as it was first meant to justify Fresnel aether's drag coefficient, and that only Einstein's SR was able to explain it correctly.



Here: http://www.aip.org/history/gap/PDF/michelson.pdf
 
nakurusil said:
Here: http://www.aip.org/history/gap/PDF/michelson.pdf

Well, no, this is the original Michelson & Morley experiment, not the repetition of Fizeau's one.
But thanks. :smile:
 
Hi Myst,
To my surprise, I was undergoing the same kind of desperation, for exactly the same reason.
All I could get was http://ajs.library.cmu.edu/
You can surely find it putting something like "michelson" on the search box.
First time I tried there was an error message but they fixed it, apparently.
Not sure yet if it is downloadable, though.
Let me know if you manage to get it in pdf.
Cheers,
Beto
 
Hey, I am Andreas from Germany. I am currently 35 years old and I want to relearn math and physics. This is not one of these regular questions when it comes to this matter. So... I am very realistic about it. I know that there are severe contraints when it comes to selfstudy compared to a regular school and/or university (structure, peers, teachers, learning groups, tests, access to papers and so on) . I will never get a job in this field and I will never be taken serious by "real"...
Yesterday, 9/5/2025, when I was surfing, I found an article The Schwarzschild solution contains three problems, which can be easily solved - Journal of King Saud University - Science ABUNDANCE ESTIMATION IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT https://jksus.org/the-schwarzschild-solution-contains-three-problems-which-can-be-easily-solved/ that has the derivation of a line element as a corrected version of the Schwarzschild solution to Einstein’s field equation. This article's date received is 2022-11-15...

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