Hammar experiment

Its negative result refuted some specific aether drag models, and confirmed special relativity.

These results cast doubts on what was then a very central assumption of modern science, and later led to the development of special relativity.

In an attempt to explain the results of the Michelson–Morley experiment in the context of the assumed medium, aether, many new hypotheses were examined.

Oliver Lodge (1893–1897) was one of the first to perform a test of this theory by using rotating and massive lead blocks in an experiment that attempted to cause an asymmetrical aether wind.

He ultimately constructed an apparatus in such a way as to minimize the mass along the path of the experiment, conducting it at the peak of a tall hill in a building that was made of lightweight materials.

One half-ray was sent in the transverse direction into a heavy walled steel pipe terminated with lead plugs.

Similar to Lodge's experiment, Hammar's apparatus should have caused an asymmetry in any proposed aether wind.