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Sir William Henry Bragg and his Work with X-Rays

Sir William Henry Bragg and his Work with X-Rays

Tabea Tietz
On July 2 1862, British physicist, chemist, mathematician, active sportsman and Nobel Laureate Sir William Henry Bragg was born. Bragg shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in physics with his son William Lawrence Bragg [3] “for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays“. During the WW I, Bragg was put in charge of research on the detection and measurement of underwater sounds in connection with the location of submarines. He also constructed an X-ray…
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physics
Sir William Crookes and the Fundamentals of Luminescence

Sir William Crookes and the Fundamentals of Luminescence

Harald Sack
On June 17, 1832, British physicist, chemist, science journalist, and parapsychologist Sir William Crookes was born. Crookes visualized cathode rays, discovered the fundamentals of luminescence and isotopes, and developed methods for detecting ionizing radiation. He discovered the chemical element thallium and the thorium isotope 234Th. William Crookes – Biographical Background William Crookes was born in London, the eldest son of the second wife of Joseph Crookes, a very wealthy tailor. He attended…
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communication
Oliver Lodge and the Development of Radio Technology

Oliver Lodge and the Development of Radio Technology

Tabea Tietz
On June 12, 1851, British physicist Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge was born. Lodge was involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Hertz‘ proof and at his 1894 Royal Institution lectures, Lodge demonstrated an early radio wave detector he named the “coherer“.[4] “Men of Science would do well to talk plain English. The most abstruse questions can very well be discussed in our…
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engineering
The Holographic World of Dennis Gabor

The Holographic World of Dennis Gabor

Tabea Tietz
On June 5, 1900, Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist Dennis Gabor was born. He is probably best known for inventing holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics. Holography is a system of lensless, three-dimensional photography that has many applications today. Gabor also did research on high-speed oscilloscopes, communication theory, physical optics, and television. Overall, he held more than 100 patents. “Incomplete knowledge of the future, and also of…
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physics
Hannes Alfvén – the Father of Plasma Physics

Hannes Alfvén – the Father of Plasma Physics

Tabea Tietz
On May 30, 1908. Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist, and Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén was born. Alfvén won the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now known as Alfvén waves. Alfvén made many contributions to plasma physics, including theories describing the behavior of aurorae, the Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth’s magnetic field, the terrestrial magnetosphere, and the dynamics…
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physics
Alfred Nier – a Pioneer in Mass Spectroscopy

Alfred Nier – a Pioneer in Mass Spectroscopy

Tabea Tietz
On May 28, 1911, American physicist Alfred Otto Carl Nier was born. Nier pioneered the development of mass spectrometry. He was the first to use mass spectrometry to isolate uranium-235 which was used to demonstrate that 235U could undergo fission and developed the sector mass spectrometer configuration now known as Nier-Johnson geometry. “…You try to untangle all of these processes to get at the primordial ratio of the heliums in the cosmic…
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physics
Thomas Gold and the Steady-State Theory

Thomas Gold and the Steady-State Theory

Tabea Tietz
On May 22, 1920, Austrian-born American astrophysicist Thomas Gold was born. Gold was one of three young Cambridge scientists who in the 1950s proposed the now mostly abandoned ‘steady state‘ hypothesis of the universe. His work crossed academic and scientific boundaries, into biophysics, astronomy, aerospace engineering, and geophysics. Thomas Gold – Youth and Education Thomas Gold was born in Vienna, Austria to Max Gold, a wealthy Jewish industrialist (pre-war) who ran one of…
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physics
Andrei Sakharov and the Soviet Thermonuclear Bomb

Andrei Sakharov and the Soviet Thermonuclear Bomb

Harald Sack
On May 21, 1921, Russian nuclear physicist, Soviet dissident, an activist for disarmament, peace and human rights Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was born.Sakharov became renowned as the designer of the Soviet Union‘s thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov later became an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the Soviet Union, for which he faced state persecution; these efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. “We regard as “scientific” a method based on…
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engineering
Fritz von Opel and the Rocket Car

Fritz von Opel and the Rocket Car

Tabea Tietz
On May 4, 1899, German automotive industrialist Fritz von Opel was born. Von Opel was the grandson of Adam Opel, founder of the Opel company. He was a pioneer in experiments with rocket propulsion for automobiles and aircraft. On 11 Apr 1928, at Berlin, together with Max Valier and Friedrich Wilhelm Sander, he tested the first manned rocket automobile, the Opel-RAK1. The Heir of an Automobile Company Fritz von Opel was the grandson of…
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physics
Heinrich Gustav Magnus and the Magnus Effect

Heinrich Gustav Magnus and the Magnus Effect

Tabea Tietz
On May 2, 1802, German physicist Heinrich Gustav Magnus was born. He is best known for the Magnus effect (the lift force produced by a rotating cylinder, which for example, gives the curve to a curve ball). In chemical research, he discovered the first of the platino-ammonium compounds. Heinrich Gustav Magnus – Early Years Heinrich Gustav Magnus’ father, the wealthy cloth and silk merchant Immanuel Meyer Magnus was baptized in 1807 with his…
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