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Pet peeve: "Led" is the past tense of "lead"! Also, "lead", pronounced the same as "led", is element number 82, a fact which often tricks speech recognition software. But we know better than to let that mess up our articles, don't we?
The '''Michelson-Morley experiment''', performed for the first time in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, attempted to measure the motion of the Earth, orbiting the Sun, through the [[aether]] that was expected to play a role of absolute [[frame of reference]] towards which the Newton's laws of motion are to be referenced. However, it failed to detect any such motion at all.<ref name="CSR">{{cite book
The '''Michelson-Morley experiment''', performed for the first time in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, attempted to measure the motion of the Earth, orbiting the Sun through the [[aether]], that was expected to play a role of absolute [[frame of reference]] through which the Newton's laws of motion are to be referenced. However, it failed to detect any such motion at all.<ref name="CSR">{{cite book
|author=Moshe Carmeli
|author=Moshe Carmeli
|title=Cosmological Special Relativity, The Large-Scale Structure of Space, Time and Velocity, 2nd Edition
|title=Cosmological Special Relativity, The Large-Scale Structure of Space, Time and Velocity, 2nd Edition
|isbn=978-0-521-23778-9
|isbn=978-0-521-23778-9
|quote=Now the point is that nothing was observed. There was no shifting as you turned instrument round. The conclusion is either that the Earth is always stationary in the ether, or that there is something wrong with the fundamental principles on which the interpretation of the experiment relies.
|quote=Now the point is that nothing was observed. There was no shifting as you turned instrument round. The conclusion is either that the Earth is always stationary in the ether, or that there is something wrong with the fundamental principles on which the interpretation of the experiment relies.
}}</ref> This unexpected failure lead to the [[Theory of relativity]]. Michelson and Morley repeated their experiment many times up until 1929<ref>{{cite web |title=Relativity:The Postulates of Special Relativity:The Michelson-Morley Experiment|author= The Nobel Foundation|publisher=nobelprize.org|url=http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/physics/relativity/experiment-1.html|accessdate=July 26, 2013|quote=In 1887, Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley tried to measure the speed of the ether. The concept of the ether was made in analogy with other types of media in which different types of waves are able to propagate; sound waves can, for example, propagate in air or other materials. The result of the Michelson-Morley experiment was that the speed of the Earth through the ether (or the speed of the ether wind) was zero. Therefore, this experiment also showed that there is no need for any ether at all, and it appeared that the speed of light in vacuum was independent of the speed of the observer! Michelson and Morley repeated their experiment many times up until 1929, but always with the same results and conclusions. Michelson won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907.}}</ref>, but always with the same results and conclusions<ref name="Whitehead"/>:
}}</ref> This unexpected failure led to the [[Theory of relativity]]. Michelson and Morley repeated their experiment many times up until 1929<ref>{{cite web |title=Relativity:The Postulates of Special Relativity:The Michelson-Morley Experiment|author= The Nobel Foundation|publisher=nobelprize.org|url=http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/physics/relativity/experiment-1.html|accessdate=July 26, 2013|quote=In 1887, Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley tried to measure the speed of the ether. The concept of the ether was made in analogy with other types of media in which different types of waves are able to propagate; sound waves can, for example, propagate in air or other materials. The result of the Michelson-Morley experiment was that the speed of the Earth through the ether (or the speed of the ether wind) was zero. Therefore, this experiment also showed that there is no need for any ether at all, and it appeared that the speed of light in vacuum was independent of the speed of the observer! Michelson and Morley repeated their experiment many times up until 1929, but always with the same results and conclusions. Michelson won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907.}}</ref>, but always with the same results and conclusions<ref name="Whitehead"/>:
*either the Earth is always stationary in the ether,
*either the Earth is always stationary in the ether,
*or there is something wrong with the fundamental principles on which the interpretation of the experiment relies.
*or there is something wrong with the fundamental principles on which the interpretation of the experiment relies.