New York Times archive (2026-10-07)

Queries (Google): "Ives" 1938 "moving atomic clock" OR "atomic clock" "Science News Letter" OR newspaper Einstein Ives Bell Laboratories 1938; site:nytimes.com "Ives" ether 1938 OR 1939 OR 1941 "atomic clock" OR relativity "Bell Telephone"; site:nytimes.com "A MYSTERY DEEPENS" Ives ether.

Found [web]: 1. "EINSTEIN HAILS 'PROOF'; Dr. Ives Provides Best Support for Relativity, He Says", NYT 27 April 1938, p.25, dateline Princeton, 26 April. https://www.nytimes.com/1938/04/27/archives/einstein-hails-proof-dr-ives-provides-best-support-for-relativity.html (first paragraphs visible; rest behind subscription). The lead says Ives's "atomic clock" experiment, which the paper describes as verifying "the existence of ether in space", is according to Einstein "the most direct proof yet brought forth in support of the theory of relativity". Einstein, interviewed at 12 Mercer Street, said he had seen only newspaper outlines of the results. 2. "A MYSTERY DEEPENS; Dr. Ives Revives Ether Controversy" (NYT 8 May 1938; Google snippet: Ives, "equipped with an 'atomic clock,' comes forward to bring back the ether"). The archive URL https://www.nytimes.com/1938/05/08/archives/a-mystery-deepens-dr-ives-revives-ether-controversy-opinions-of.html returned "Page Not Found" in Chrome. Partial.

Bearing: the historical record of the April 1938 announcement (Ives read the paper to the NAS on 25 April 1938; Smithsonian photo of him at that meeting). Within one day the same result was publicly claimed for both readings: by the press for the ether, by Einstein for relativity. This is direct contemporary evidence for claim 2's dispute over interpretation, and it sits beside Ives's own 1950 account of a hostile Princeton reception (Hazelett and Turner p.90). Earlier newspaper coverage (25-26 April 1938) is implied by Einstein's remark and was not found.