Dayton Clarence Miller (13.03.1866-22.02.1941) was an American physicist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1921). He was born in Strongsville. In 1890 he received his doctorate at Princeton University and began work at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, where he later became a professor.
His work was in the fields of acoustics and the electrodynamics of moving bodies. He repeated Michelson's experiment in 1902 — 06 (together with E. Morley) and in 1921 and 1922—24 on his own. The data of the last experiments, published in 1925, were ambiguous, and Miller's interpretation of them in favour of a partial ether drag gave rise to discussions about the foundations of the theory of relativity. At a conference in 1927 convened on this question it was shown that the positive results of Miller's experiments were due to secondary causes.
In 1925—26 he was president of the American
Physical Society, and in 1913 —33 of the Acoustical Society of America.