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

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the difficulty of accessing historic articles from the American Journal of Science, specifically seeking the 1886 article "Influence of motion of the medium on the velocity of light" by Michelson and Morley. Participants explore various methods for obtaining this article and share their experiences with archival resources.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses frustration over the lack of access to old articles from American Scientific Journals, noting that the Physical Review charges $20 per article.
  • Another suggests using "Interlibrary loan" through a university library to obtain the article.
  • A participant provides a link to a PDF of the original Michelson & Morley experiment, but notes it is not the specific article being sought.
  • Another participant shares a link to a library resource and mentions that searching for "michelson" might yield results, although they are uncertain about the download availability.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best method to access the article. Multiple suggestions are offered, but uncertainty remains about the effectiveness of these approaches.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific limitations regarding the availability of archives and the challenges faced in accessing older scientific literature.

Myst
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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
 

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