1 − υ²/c² in the direction of motion, where c is the speed of light.">The contraction of a moving body in the direction of its motion. In 1892 G. F. FitzGerald and H. A. Lorentz proposed independently that the failure of the Michelson-Morley experiment to detect an absolute motion of the Earth in space arose from a physical contraction of the interferometer in the direction of the Earth's motion. According to this hypothesis, as formulated more exactly by Albert Einstein in the special theory of relativity, a body in motion with speed υ is contracted by a factor √1 − υ²/c² in the direction of motion, where c is the speed of light.