Bernard H. Lavenda

When an experiment appears, at least superficially, to fit a theory presently in mode, it is hailed as as ground-breaking event. Yet, when an experiment turns up a null result, it is labeled 'controversial,' and placed in the same category as other null results like the Michelson-Morley experiment which supposedly heralded in the theory of Special Relativity. Only what theory is being heralded in is left as a secret.

The fundamental null results of Michelson and Morley, which tests length contraction in the direction of motion, and  Kennedy and Thorndike, which confirms time dilation, in inertial moving interferometers are no where mentioned in the recent experiments results of LIGO that purport to establish the existence of gravitational waves using  such a Michelson interferometer. Even in the case of the Kennedy-Thorndike experiment which utilizes arms of different length, a null result was obtained.

Up until the last decade of the twentieth century, only a small handful of people were actively working in the field of gravitational waves that the general relativity predicts. 

Gravitational waves (GW) are the supposed culprits behind the out of phasing of electromagnetic waves which are bounced of two sets of plates at right angles in the LIGO interferometer. The recombination of the out of phase electromagnetic waves is what  supposedly produces the interference pattern allowing for the detection of GW. All this is said to happen at zero energy since GW carry no energy. This would be the ultimate free lunch! And this contradicts all that we know about waves, which can coil and extend so that when they hit obstacles can release a radiation (Maxwell) pressure.

The press, backed up by exaggerated claims by project team leaders, claims that we are heralding in a new era of "gravitational" spectroscopy whereby by an upgraded Michelson type interferometer is able to measure the distortion on its arms caused by gravitational waves, Furthermore, by the observed frequency changes, one can deduce the cause of these waves.