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Posts tagged ‘finding physicists’

My Vienna: Ludwig Boltzmann was here

The name is a large presence, particularly to many in science.

To others, the name might have little significance as any other name, like Helmut Grossuhrmacher. OK, I made that name up.

A name I didn’t make up is Ludwig Boltzmann, whose contributions to science are fundamental in an understanding of heat- or thermal-physics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. After several years of undergraduate- and graduate-level physics, Boltzmann is one of many names imprinted into memory, firmly established in the left-side of my brain.

Boltzmann highlights

•   b/✵ 20 February 1844 – d/✟ 5 September 1906.
•   Born and raised in Vienna, Boltzmann enroled at age 19 in the University of Vienna to study mathematics and physics.
•   Supervised by Josef Stefan, Boltzmann completed his doctoral dissertation “Über die mechanische Bedeutung des zweiten Hauptsatzes der mechanischen Wärmetheorie” (On the mechanical significance of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) in 1866 at the age of 22.
•   1869–1873: University of Graz, with visits to Heidelberg and Berlin.
•   1873–1876: University of Vienna.
•   1876–1890: University of Graz.
•   1890–1894: (Ludwig Maximilian) University of Munich.
•   1894–1900: after Josef Stefan’s retirement, Boltzmann returns as professor of mathematics and physics at University of Vienna.
•   1900–1902: Leipzig University.
•   1902–1906: University of Vienna; he also teaches physics, mathematics, and philosophy.
•   Doctoral students Boltzmann supervised and advised included: Paul Ehrenfest, Lise Meitner, Stefan Meyer, Walther Nernst.
•   Speaking tour of the United States in 1905, including his stay that summer in Berkeley at the University of California. Evident from his trip report, Reise eines deutschen Professors ins Eldorado, is his sense of humour.

Time has been kind to Vienna, a city filled with notable personalities in arts, architecture, music, and science. Throughout its cemeteries, the city has assigned “graves of honour” (Ehrengrab) for many, including Boltzmann. Finding his final spot was one of many favourite moments in 2018. However, Boltzmann’s significance to the University of Vienna, to the physics world, and to time I spent in physics persuaded me to create a short (walking-)tour of Vienna to highlight some of his traces and memorialization in the city.

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Fotoeins Friday at Uni Vienna: Ludwig Boltzmann

I’ve highlighted notable physicists who’ve been memorialized within the Arcade Courtyard in the main building of the University of Vienna:

2 Apr: Lise Meitner;
9 Apr: Christian Doppler, Erwin Schrödinger;
16 Apr: Joseph Littrow, Karl Littrow;
23 Apr: Josef Stefan;
30 Apr: Ludwig Boltzmann.

These are all names whose work and discovery form the historical and scientific basis of my university education in the field of physics.

The inscription for physicist and university professor Ludwig Boltzmann reads:

Ludwig Boltzmann, 1844-1906:
Professor of mathematics, 1873-1876;
Professor of theoretical physics, 1894-1900 and 1902-1906.

Buried in Vienna’s Central Cemetery, Boltzmannn’s gravestone includes the equation for entropy in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.

S \,=\, k \log W

In collaboration with Josef Stefan, the Stefan-Boltzmann Law describes how an object that absorbs all radiation falling on its surface emits radiative intensity (I, radiation energy per unit time per unit area) that’s proportional to the fourth power in temperature T with constant emissivity ε (between 0 and 1) and Stefan-Boltzmann constant σ.

I \,=\, \epsilon \sigma T^4

Ludwig Boltzmann was also one of Lise Meitner’s professors and advisors at the university. Meitner would become the 3rd woman to receive a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna, and would go on to describe the process of nuclear fission.

The university’s historical main building is inside the city’s Old Town which has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. I made the photo above on 16 May 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/30-sec, f/5.6, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-iGz.

Josef Stefan, Arkadenhof, Universitaet Wien, University of Vienna, physicist, physics, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday at Uni Vienna: Josef Stefan

Throughout the month, I’m highlighting notable physicists who’ve been memorialized within the Arcade Courtyard in the main building of the University of Vienna:

2 Apr: Lise Meitner;
9 Apr: Christian Doppler, Erwin Schrödinger;
16 Apr: Joseph Littrow, Karl Littrow;
23 Apr: Josef Stefan;
30 Apr: Ludwig Boltzmann.

These are all names whose work and discovery form the historical and scientific basis of my university education in the field of physics.

The memorial to Josef Stefan (Jožef Štefan) includes a small inscription:

Josef Stefan
Professor of physics, 1863-1893
Born 1835, died 1893

An important physics equation is the Stefan-Boltzmann Law, which describes how an object that absorbs all radiation falling on its surface emits radiative intensity I (radiation energy per unit time per unit area) that is proportional to the fourth power in temperature T; the other two quantities are constants: emissivity ε between 0 and 1, and the Stefan-Boltzmann constant σ:

I \,=\, \epsilon \sigma T^4

Both Stefan and Boltzmann are buried in Vienna’s Central Cemetery. Boltzmann’s gravestone includes his entropy equation. Stefan does not have his own grave; instead, his descendants in the Munk family have a gravestone.

The university’s historical main building is inside the city’s Old Town which has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. I made the photo above on 16 May 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/60-sec, f/3.2, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-iGt.

Josef Johann von Littrow, Karl von Littrow, Universitaet Wien, University of Vienna, physicist, physics, Arkadenhof, Vienna, Wien, Austria, Oesterreich, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday at Uni Vienna: Joseph & Karl Littrow

Throughout the month, I’m highlighting notable physicists who’ve been memorialized within the Arcade Courtyard in the main building of the University of Vienna:

2 Apr: Lise Meitner;
9 Apr: Christian Doppler, Erwin Schrödinger;
16 Apr: Joseph Littrow, Karl Littrow;
23 Apr: Josef Stefan;
30 Apr: Ludwig Boltzmann.

These are all names whose work and discovery form the historical and scientific basis of my university education in the field of physics.

A wall plaque memorializes astronomers Joseph Littrow and (his son) Karl Littrow at left and right, respectively. Joseph was director of the Vienna Observatory from 1819 to 1842; Karl succeeded his father as director from 1842 to 1877.

The Littrow crater on the Moon is named after Joseph, but he’s also best known in physics for his optics inventions: the Littrow prism and the Littrow configuration optimizing the performance of a spectrograph with a specially designed diffraction grating.

The university’s historical main building is inside the city’s Old Town which has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. I made the photo above on 16 May 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/30-sec, f/2.8, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-iGr.

Christian Doppler, Erwin Schroedinger, Arkadenhof, Universitaet Wien, University of Vienna, physicist, physics, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday at Uni Vienna: Doppler & Schrödinger

This month I’m highlighting notable physicists who’ve been memorialized within the Arcade Courtyard in the main building of the University of Vienna:

2 Apr: Lise Meitner;
9 Apr: Christian Doppler, Erwin Schrödinger;
16 Apr: Joseph Littrow, Karl Littrow;
23 Apr: Josef Stefan;
30 Apr: Ludwig Boltzmann.

These are names whose work and discovery form part of the historical and scientific basis of my university education in the field of physics.

Shown in the image are memorials to Christian Doppler and Erwin Schrödinger at left and right, respectively. My translation to the inscription on the Doppler memorial inscription reads:

Christian Doppler, 1803-1853:
Professor of physics at Vienna University, 1850-1853.
The Doppler principle has ensured the Doppler name for all time.

With his birth house in Salzburg as backdrop, I briefly describe the physics of the Doppler effect.

The Schrödinger memorial highlights an early 20th-century revolution in science in the form of quantum mechanics: the physics of the atom and its constituents. The well-known equation representing Newton’s 2nd Law, “F = ma”, is to classical mechanics, as the following equation is to quantum mechanics.

i \hbar \dot{\psi} \,=\, H \psi

I was able to “localize” the final resting place for Schrödinger and his wife in the Austrian alpine town of Alpbach. The above equation appears on the their grave in Alpbach and on the memorial at the University of Vienna. The equation is a generalized form of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation describing a physical system, represented by ψ, which changes with time.

The university’s historical main building is inside the city’s Old Town which has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. I made the photo above on 16 May 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/60-sec, f/6.4, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-iGo.