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Posts tagged ‘physics’

My Vienna: Dr. Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler, trailblazer & women’s advocate

In examining the history of the University of Vienna, I discovered Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler was the first woman to receive a doctoral degree in physics from the university in 1903. Who was she? How did she become the first? How did society of the time view the education of young women?

I’m starting a series on women who left their mark on Vienna and Austria, and some of the traces they left behind in the Austrian capital city. With educators, inventors, writers, and scientists, my serial includes: Dr. Marietta Blau; Marianne Hainisch; Hedwig Kiesler, a.k.a. Hedy Lamarr; Dr. Lise Meitner; Dr. Gabriele Possanner; Dr. Elise Richter; and Bertha von Suttner.

Who: Dr. Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler: b/✵ 28 Oct 1879, d/✟ 21 Dec 1933.
PhD: 1st woman with doctoral degree in physics from University of Vienna, 1903.
Educator: Early 20th-century teacher & advocate for better access to education for young women.

In late 19th-century and early 20th-century Austria and Vienna, Olga Steindler was one of countless women who faced difficulties and challenges by young women who wanted to expand their education and improve employment, all of which were viewed by society at the time as undesirable. Feminism or anything similar did not exist.

Born and raised in Vienna, Olga Steindler departed her home for Prague to complete and pass her final high-school examinations in 1899, because young women were not permitted to do so within Austria at the time. She subsequently enrolled at the University of Vienna to study physics and mathematics within the Faculty of Philosophy. Only two years earlier in 1897 had the University of Vienna finally accepted the enrolment of women, although they were initially allowed only into the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1903, Steindler became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Vienna after successfully completing her research dissertation.

Completing qualifications for teaching at secondary (high) schools in the same year, she joined the “Athenäum” where she taught young women about experimental physics; she also taught at Vienna’s first girls’ secondary school established by Marianne Hainisch in the city’s 1st district. In 1907, she founded two new schools in Vienna: a girls’ public secondary school in the city’s 2nd district, and a business school for young women in the city’s 8th district. Steindler married her physicist colleague Dr. Felix Ehrenhaft in 1908; she became known as Dr. Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler. She championed the cause for educating girls and young women, and creating new opportunities in science, business, and society at large. For her dedicated service to the public, Austria awarded her in 1931 the title of “Hofrat” as a new member of the imperial court advisory council, an honour uncommon among Austrian women at the time. At the age of 54, Dr. Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler died in December 1933 from complications after having contracted pneumonia.

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Friedhof Wannsee Lindenstrasse, Neuer Friedhof Wannsee, Friedhof Wannsee II, Berlin, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

My Berlin: Wannsee cemetery with Helmholtz, Fischer, Conrad

Above/featured: Friedhof Wannsee Lindenstrasse with Andreaskirche in the background.

I came here looking for a physicist, but I also found a Nobel-Prize winning chemist and a successful banker.

In the southwest corner of metropolitan Berlin tucked away under rows of leafy trees in a quiet residential neighbourhood in Wannsee is a small cemetery, next to a tall red brick church Andreaskirche. With the main (east) entrance off Lindenstrasse, the cemetery is called Friedhof Wannsee Lindenstrasse; alternate names include “Neuer Friedhof Wannsee” and “Friedhof Wannsee II.” Opened in 1887, the cemetery is one of the smallest in the city with an area about 1.9 hectares (19-thousand square metres) or a shade under 5 acres.

(My day trip to Wannsee was only one element of my “quick” 11-day hop to Berlin in autumn 2021.)

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Ludwig Boltzmann, Arkadenhof, Universitaet Wien, University of Vienna, physicist, physics, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

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.

Lise Meitner, Arkadenhof, Universitaet Wien, University of Vienna, physicist, physics, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday at Uni Vienna: Lise Meitner

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.

Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was an Austrian physicist whose work with chemist Otto Hahn produced breakthroughs in our understanding of atomic and nuclear physics. Meitner overcame obstacles blocking women from studying and working at universities in the early 20th-century. She wanted to study at the University of Vienna, and thanks to her parents’ support, she studied on her own and successfully passed the university’s entrance examination in 1901. She studied physics over the next five years; physicist Ludwig Boltzmann was one of her instructors and advisors. In 1906, Meitner became the 3rd woman at the university to receive a doctorate in physics (after Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler and Selma Freund). In 1907, she moved to Berlin where she would stay for over 30 years. In 1926, she became one of the first women appointed to associate professor at Berlin University and the first woman as professor of physics in Germany. Her Jewish lineage meant loss of title and employment, and in mid-1938, a hasty departure from Germany and exile to Sweden. In 1939, she and her nephew physicist Otto Frisch published a short breakthrough paper with their theoretical analysis of the newly discovered process of “nuclear fission” in experiments with uranium and thorium by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann. Later, she refused to help with the construction of an atomic bomb and objected to the use of nuclear weapons for the rest of her life.

Like many, I believe Lise Meitner should have been honoured as co-Laureate for the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded solely to Otto Hahn. In mid-2016, the University of Vienna unveiled a monument in her honour.

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/9, 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-iFJ.

Würzburg: Röntgen, X-rays, & 1st Nobel Prize in Physics

On my list and map, I placed the museum’s location as a “possible” to visit in the city. If I had time, I’d swing by and have a look, appealing to my fondness for science and the history of science.

Many arrive in Würzburg to visit the Residenz UNESCO world heritage site. On a daytrip from Frankfurt am Main, I duly visited the Residenz, and easily completed my initial visit requirements, as I knew I would. That’s when my inner voice (a.k.a., the spirit of B.Sc. ’90) reminded me insistently the museum was “simply and conveniently” on the return walk to the city’s central train station to fully complete my visit requirements.

I walked north from the Residenz, and followed the signs into the building for the Röntgen-Gedächtnisstätte (Röntgen Memorial) where X-rays were discovered. Standing inside the former laboratory space, I’m surrounded by artifacts, books, papers, tubes, equipment, and photographs.

I also feel a part of my undergraduate physics education has come full circle.

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Christian Doppler, Doppler birth house, Dopplers Geburtshaus, Salzburg, Austria, Oesterreich, fotoeins.com

My Salzburg: Christian Doppler’s birth house

In crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Salzach river, every step takes me away from the famous view of the fortress over Old Town classics of steeples and baroque in Salzburg. Before I get to where I want to be, I have to cross a busy street in the afternoon rush which has come to a halt. Wailing sirens approach and recede as red and white “Rettungswagen” race to the emergency situation somewhere in the city. The cyclical lights are in my favour, and upon turning the corner, I see the sign that tells me I’ve arrived.

One self-assigned goal during three weeks of travel within Austria was the search for places associated with physicists and mathematicians of my youth. And by youth, I mean the tender twenties when all I cared about was a succinct explanation of the natural world through various equations1. In Alpbach, I found Erwin and Annemarie Schrödinger’s grave. In Vienna, I found Ludwig Boltzmann’s grave. Here in Salzburg across the street from the Mozart family house, I found Christian Doppler after whom the Doppler effect is named.

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Ludwig Boltzmann, Wiener Zentralfriedhof, Vienna Central Cemetery, Vienna, Wien, Austria, fotoeins.com

My Vienna: Ludwig Boltzmann in spring

I’m neither tragic nor hip, but I know a little bit about Canadian icon and band, The Tragically Hip, and specifically, a song of theirs called “Springtime in Vienna.”

I can’t play a musical instrument, but I especially liked listening to a performance of Johann Strauss II’s “An der schönen blauen Donau” (The Blue Danube) on an intercity river catamaran between Vienna and Bratislava.

What I’m totally convinced is when spring comes calling, I’m allergic to nature. I’m a living example to irritation and inflammation, and living consequence to nature’s response to spring.

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