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Gustav Robert Kirchhoff ( March 12, 1824 - October 17, 1887), a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. He coined the term "black body" radiation in 1862, and two sets of independent concepts in both circuit theory and thermal emission are named " Kirchhoff's laws" after him.
Gustav Kirchhoff was born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), the son of Friedrich Kirchhoff, a lawyer, and Johanna Henriette Wittke. He graduated from the Albertus University of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) in 1847 and married Clara Richelot, the daughter of his mathematics professor Friedrich Richelot. In the same year, they moved to Berlin, where he stayed until he received a professorship at Breslau (now Wroclaw).
Kirchhoff formulated his current law voltage law for circuit analysis, which are now ubiquitous in electrical engineeringElectrical engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of electricity and electromagnetism. Its practitioners are called electrical engineer s. Electrical engineering is a broad field that encompasses many subfields., in 1845Events January 29 The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time New York Evening Mirror . March 1 President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. March 3 Florida is admitted as the 27th U., while still a student. He proposed his law of thermal radiation in 1859Events January 2 Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette''. February 14 Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U. February 16 George Washington Gale Ferris Jr born February 16, 1859 Galesburg, Knox, IL March 26 French amateur astronomer clai, and gave a proof in 18611861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 1 Benito Juarez captures Mexico City January 2 Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I January 3 American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United. At Breslau, he collaborated in spectroscopic work with Bunsen, he was a co-discoverer of caesiumCaesium (also spelled cesium and pronounced /'sizm/, though it goes against Latin phonetics) is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft silvery-gold Alkali metal which is one of at least three met and rubidium in 1861 while studying the chemical composition of the Sun via its spectral signature.
Later, he postulated three empirical laws describing the spectral composition of light emitted by incandescent objects.
- A hot solid object produces light with a continuous spectrum.
- A hot tenuous gas produces light with spectral lines at discrete wavelengths (i.e. specific colors) which depend on the energy levels of the atoms in the gas. (See also: emission spectrum)
- A hot solid object surrounded by a cool tenuous gas (i.e. cooler than the hot object) produces light with an almost continuous spectrum which has gaps at discrete wavelengths depending on the energy levels of the atoms in the gas.
The existence of these discrete lines was later explained by the Bohr model, which helped lead to the development of quantum mechanics.
References
Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert
Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert
Kirchhoff
Kirchhoff, Gustav
