How does Michelson's work relate to modern GPS?
The technologies that underpin modern systems like the Global Positioning System (GPS) rely heavily on our understanding of the speed of light and the principles of relativity, which were significantly informed by my experiments. GPS satellites orbit at high speeds and in a different gravitational field than receivers on Earth. Precise timekeeping and the calculations of signal travel times are critical for accurate positioning. The relativistic effects that my work helped to uncover must be accounted for in the algorithms that make GPS functional.
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