Man standing on a section of the vacuum tube with which Dr. Albert Michelson measured the velocity of light, Irvine Ranch, ca.1931

Photograph of a man standing on a section of the vacuum tube with which Dr. Albert Michelson measured the velocity of light, Irvine Ranch, ca.1931. The long pipe or tube, exactly a mile in length, runs from the foreground at center to the background at right and is supported by a series of wooden cradles or frames above the surrounding scrub where sheets of unused materials lie. A man can be seen standing in profile on top of the tube in the foreground at center, looking straight ahead (i.e. to the picture's right). He is wearing a light-colored shirt, dark stained pants, scuffed work boots, and a cap. A corrugated metal shed can be seen in the foreground at left, while a dirt roadway runs parallel to the pipe at left. Several more buildings are visible in the background at center including one where two people stand on the dirt road beside it.