Gustav Kirchoff Facts
Gustav Kirchoff Facts
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| Interesting Gustav Kirchoff Facts: |
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| Kirchoff was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, now Kaliningrad, Russia. |
| He graduated from the Albertus University of Königsberg in 1847. |
| In 1845, while still only a student at the university, Kirchoff wrote a paper detailing his circuit laws; this study later became the basis of his doctoral dissertation. |
| His first law makes possible the calculation of currents, voltages and resistances of electric systems. |
| Kirchoff discovered that thermal radiation is given off by all objects that have a temperature greater than absolute zero and gave a proof for his law of thermal radiation in 1861. |
| In 1854 he became a professor at the University of Heidelberg and with Robert Bunsen founded the science of spectrum analysis by proving that every element gives off a characteristic wave length of light when heated to incandescence. |
| They used this technique to discover cesium in 1860 and rubidium in 1861. |
| In 1862 he received the Rumford Medal for his research. |
| When he applied spectral analysis to the study of the Sun, he discovered that when light is passed through a gas, the gas absorbs those wavelengths it would have emitted if heated. |
| This discovery was important to the field of astronomy. |
| In 1875 he accepted the first chair of theoretical physics created at the University of Berlin. |
| Kirchoff was immensely important in the field of spectroscopy due to his formation of the three laws that outline the composition of light emitted by incandescent objects. |
| His work improved on the previously established work of David Alter and Anders Jonas Ångström. |
| He is also remembered for important contributions to optics, as he solved Maxwell's equations in order to establish a solid basis and correct Huygens' principle. |
| In 1887, Kirchoff died and was laid to rest in the St Matthäus Kirchhof Cemetery in Berlin, near the graves of the Grimm Brothers. |
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