Airy's Failure

The experiment called Airy’s Failure was an test conducted by the Royal Astronomer Sir George Biddell Airy in 1871 which showed that the stars move relative to a horizontally fixed Earth. By first filling a telescope with water to slow down the speed of light inside, then calculating the tilt necessary to get the starlight directly down the tube, Airy demonstrated that the earth was fixed horizontally since the starlight came in at the correct angle without needing to change the tilt of the telescope.

Malcolm Bowden
Malcom Bowden gives an overview of Airy's Failure:

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