Who was Gustav Kirchhoff?

Most high school and engineering students know Gustav Kirchhoff by his namesake circuit laws. But there is more to him than that as we shall see. Gustav Kirchhoff was born on 12 March, 1824 in Prussia (now Germany).

Besides circuit laws, Kirchhoff is known for making pioneering contributions to spectroscopy. With scientist Robert Bunsen, he invented the spectroscope in its modern form. He used it to study the spectrum of the Sun.

In 1859, he showed that the Sun contained sodium apart from Hydrogen and Helium. His spectroscopic work earned him greater fame in his native country. Since 1990, a little over 100 years after his death, the Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award has been given for outstanding achievements in spectroscopy.

Now coming back to electricity. You will be amazed to know that Kirchhoff was only a student when he formulated the two circuit laws in 1845. It later became his doctoral dissertation as well. The two laws are as follows:

1. The algebraic sum of currents meeting at a point is zero.
2. The directed sum of the voltages around any closed loop is zero.

They can be used to solve many problems in physics and engineering. Let's have a crack at it with a simple example.

Since (i) the sum of currents at a point must be zero and (ii) currents i1 and i2 are incoming (positive) and i3 and i4 (negative) are outgoing...therefore: 3+9-5-i3=0. This gives i3=7 amp.

That was current law in its simplest form. But combined with voltage law they can be used to solve very complicated circuits.

Apart from spectroscopy and engineering, Kirchhoff made equally important contribution to the field of thermochemistry. In 1858, he gave a law: The overall enthalpy of the reaction will change if the increase in the enthalpy of products and reactants is different.

In 1860, Kirchhoff coined the term black-body radiation and postulated the existence of a perfect black-body, an object that absorbs all the incoming light and reflects none. His studies were used by Max Planck to formulate the Planck's law in 1900.

Although Kirchhoff has become most widely known for his circuit laws but you can realize now how important his other findings were. To the fields of spectroscopy and thermodynamics. Gustav Kirchhoff was a proper genius.

5 Qualities That Made Albert Einstein Genius

Collaborative instinct

Einstein mastered the art of collaboration like no other physicist of the time. He worked with his first wife Mileva Marić, British astronomer Arthur Eddington, with his professor, mathematician Hendrik Lorentz and most importantly with Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, with whom he formulated the Bose-Einstein statistics and Bose-Einstein condensate.

Powerful Imagination

When Einstein first published his ideas in the early half of the 20th century, none in the scientific community took them seriously. They were too imaginative as well as complex at the same time. For example the concept of space-time curvature was first thought of in 1911 but only verified and accepted 8 years later when Arthur Eddington confirmed it.

Childlike curiosity

Einstein's work was a result of his childlike curiosity. He had once famously declared: 'Never lose a holy curiosity'. Despite several rumors, he was an excellent student who taught himself algebra at the age of 12. For simply wanting to learn was a pleasure for his kind. At the same age, he also discovered an alternative proof of Pythagorean theorem. By age 14, he had self-taught himself differential and integral calculus.

Challenging the norms

Einstein was also a rebel. As a 15 year old, he had clashed with the authorities at his school for differences on the teaching method. He later wrote that creative thought was lost in a strict rote learning and he hated it. He said: 'School failed me and I failed the school'. His father wanted him to become an electrical engineer but he went with physics against his father's wishes.

Einstein's big brain

There has been a lot of talk about Einstein's brain and why not. He was the greatest mind since Newton and perhaps more famous worldwide. After his death, it was found that Einstein's brain included a greater density of neurons in some parts of the brain. His prefrontal cortex, which is linked to planning, focused attention, and perseverance, was also greatly expanded, unlike other test brains observed.

Famous Physicist Who Took His Life Due To Depression

Ludwig Boltzmann was an Austrian physicist and philosopher who did not get the recognition for his work that he deserved. It is that which drove him to deep depression and which ultimately led to his suicide in 1906, aged 62.

However, today, we know Boltzmann as one of the founders of thermodynamics. His work, that is, statistical mechanics, is one of the pillars of modern physics. He is remembered not only for his pioneering contributions but also for his great personality.

As a student

He obtained his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1866. His thesis was on the kinetic theory of gases, but it was built upon the idea of atoms, the existence of which was not universally accepted at that time.

James Clerk Maxwell at that time was the only person to take Ludwig's theory seriously. He compiled a list of ideas which helped Boltzmann come up with, what is now called, Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution.

As a teacher

He taught maths and physics at various universities during his lifetime. Name and year of joining are: University of Graz (1869), University of Vienna (1873), University of Munich (1890). His students included the likes of Lise Meitner and Paul Ehrenfest.

But what brought him wider public attention were his lectures on philosophy. The lecture halls were jam-packed and because of their popularity, Boltzmann was also invited for a dinner party by the then Emperor of Austria.

As a husband

In 1872, long before women were allowed to study at Austrian Universities, Ludwig met the love of his life, Henriette von Aigentler. She wanted to become a professor of physics in Graz but her application was rejected.

Unlike his colleagues at the University of Graz, Boltzmann supported Henriette's decision to re-apply and helped her in the same. In 1876, Ludwig and Henriette married and had three daughters and a son.

Work on Entropy

In 1877, Ludwig explained the law of entropy, that all systems will either be in a state of disorder or move towards it, in an equation which is inscribed on his tombstone. His work was viciously attacked by many leading scientists of the time which led ultimately to his suicide in 1906.

5 True Love Stories In The Physics World

Marie and Pierre

The two were among the greatest scientists of the 20th century and married on 26 July, 1895. For their honeymoon, Pierre and Marie took a bicycle tour around the French countryside.

In Pierre, Marie had found a caring and a brilliant lab partner. In Marie, Pierre discovered the love of his life. And together, they went on to win the Nobel Prize, in 1903. Marie went on to win another in 1911.

Richard and Arline

Richard Feynman was instantly smitten by Arline Greenbaum. He wrote about their journey in the autobiographical book, What do you care what other people think? which was adapted into a 1996 movie.

Despite being from two separate worlds, Arline and Richard were united by the threads of love. Although they weren't meant to be forever, as Arline was struck by tuberculosis, their love became an example for everyone.

Carl and Ann

Ann Druyan co-wrote the TV show Cosmos with Carl Sagan, whom she married in 1981. They also went on to collaborate on other projects, like the 1997 film Contact.

It was as if Carl was creatively lost when Ann Druyan entered his life, before and during the filming of Cosmos. Together they were an unstoppable creative force, a proof that true love brings the best out of you.

Stephen and Jane

Stephen and Jane tied the knot in 1965, two years after Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, that would eventually paralyse him completely. They had 3 children together - Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

When Stephen was in need, Jane was always there beside him, like a rock solid support. Stephen and Jane's story proves that true love need not fear what life has to throw at you.

Paul and Margit

Dirac married Margit Wigner, sister of physicist Eugene Wigner and a divorcee, in 1937. He was 35 years old when he took the decision against existing societal norms.

All his life Dirac waited to share his deepest thoughts and feelings with someone he could trust and admire. Paul and Margit happened to meet, although by chance but their chemistry like a classical love story it transpired.

5 Deserving Indians Who Did Not Win Nobel Prize

Yes, lately, there have been many Indian-American Nobel Laureates. But there is, so far, only one, let's say, "wholly Indian" Nobel Prize winner in science. He is C.V. Raman who won it for physics in 1930. In this post, let's take a look at deserving candidates who did not win the most coveted prize.

Satyendra Nath Bose

Bose was a brilliant physicist who collaborated with Albert Einstein to work out what is now called the Bose-Einstein statistics. Several Nobel Prizes were awarded related to the field initiated by him but Bose himself never won the top honors.

He was nominated five times but the Nobel committee did not find his work worthy of the Prize. Paul Dirac, English Physicist, coined (and popularized) the term Boson in Bose's honor (particles that obey Bose Einstein statistics).

So, when asked about his Nobel Prize snub, Bose replied: "I have got all the recognition I deserve." Surely, his name will live on forever in the scientific world, thanks to Dirac.

Meghnad Saha

He was an Indian astrophysicist who made fundamental contributions to astronomy. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectrum of stars to their actual temperatures. This is helpful in studying the composition of star and predicting its life cycle.

Saha was nominated for the Prize several times especially for the work done in astronomy. But at that time astronomy was not considered a branch of physics. Edwin Hubble tried to change that during his lifetime but to no avail.

Homi Bhabha

He was a nuclear physicist who is regarded as the father of Indian nuclear programme. Bhabha figured out the interaction of cosmic rays with the upper atmosphere to produce particles observed at the ground level.

He later concluded that observation of such particles was a straightforward experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Bhabha was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1951 and 1953-1956 but never won.

G.N. Ramachandran

He was an Indian physicist who is known for the creation of Ramachandran plot for understanding the peptide structure. He completed his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his fundamental contributions in the understanding of protein structure and functioning. Top scientists including Linus Pauling and Francis Crick regarded Ramchandran's work Nobel worthy.

E.C. George Sudarshan

In 2005, a controversy broke out when Roy Glauber won the Nobel Prize for Glauber–Sudarshan representation in quantum optics while Sudarshan was ignored by the committee. In 2007, Sudarshan told the Hindustan Times, "The 2005 Nobel prize for Physics was awarded for my work, but I wasn't the one to get it."

10 Galileo Galilei Quotes To Succeed In Life

Galileo played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance period. He was the first to discover the rings of Saturn. His work in physics helped Newton formulate the laws of motion. Here is a list of some of his finest sayings:

1. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. (context: Galileo's trial by The Church)

2. The book of the universe is written in a mathematical language, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.

3. The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.

4. My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we make of this? Shall we laugh, or shall we cry? (In a 1610 letter, Galileo's trial)

5. Nature is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to men.

6. In the long run my observations have convinced me that most men, reasoning preposterously, first establish some conclusion in their minds which, either because of its being their own or because of their having received it from some person who has their entire confidence, impresses them so deeply that one finds it impossible ever to get it out of their heads.

7. In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

8. I have been in my bed for five weeks, oppressed with weakness and other infirmities from which my age, seventy four years, permits me not to hope release. Added to this, the sight of my right eye — that eye whose labors (dare I say it) have had such glorious results — is for ever lost. That of the left, which was and is imperfect, is rendered null by continual weeping. [context: His house arrest after the trial; Galileo became partially blind by looking at the Sun through his telescope]

9. Light held together by moisture. (his description of wine)

10. You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself.

Only Pakistani To Win Nobel Prize For Physics

Doctor Abdus Salam is the first and only Pakistani, so far, to receive a Nobel Prize in physics. He is also well known for the development of science and technology in his country.

For example: Salam was an advisor to the Ministry of Science in Pakistan from 1960 to 1974. He was the founding director of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).

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Salam also played a key role in Pakistan's development of nuclear energy and contributed to the development of their atomic bomb project in 1972. Thus, he was often called the Scientific Father of Pakistan.

However, in 1974, Salam departed from his country, in protest, after the Parliament of Pakistan passed a bill declaring the members of Ahmadiya Muslim community, to which he belonged, non-Muslims.

In 1979, he won the Nobel Prize for physics alongside Sheldon Lee Glashow and Steven Weinberg, for the electroweak unification theory. Thus, after this extraordinary accomplishment, he once again became his nation's hero.

Salam continued to stay in England until his death in 1996. But, his dying wish was to be buried in his beloved nation. It was fulfilled and approximately 30,000 people attended his funeral prayers in Pakistan.

Work

In 1951, he obtained a PhD degree from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. His doctoral thesis earned him not only popularity and reputation but also an Adams Prize.

Salam then worked on the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces (from 1959 onwards) with Glashow and Weinberg.

In 1966, he proposed a hypothetical particle, when he showed the possible interaction between magnetic monopole and C-violation. He thus formulated the "magnetic photon".

In 1972, he collaborated with Indian-American physicist Jogesh Pati. They developed a theory of everything (GUT) known as the  Pati–Salam model.

How James Watt And Harry Potter Are Related

James Watt was a Scottish physicist and inventor who was born on Jan 19, 1736 and strangely has a weird connection with Harry Potter films. Well, at least that's the intention of this post.

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Just as Harry frequently has ache in the corner of his head (where he was scarred at birth), James Watt also is said to have had headaches all his life.

Watt developed the concept of horsepower, a unit to measure the rate at which work is done. In his honor, SI unit of power is called Watt and one horsepower is 746 W.

A related meme had once gone viral on the internet.

Just the way actor Daniel Radcliffe said it did the trick.

Watt was also a pioneer in steam engine technology. He improved upon the old version and developed his own machine in 1770, which radically enhanced the efficiency and cost-effectiveness and ushered the Industrial Revolution in Europe.

In Harry Potter films, the steam engine plays a crucial role as it's what drives the Hogwarts Express. It was provided by West Coast Railways, a train operating company in Lancashire.

Plus, James Watt was Scottish and Harry Potter films have been majorly filmed in Scotland. In fact, Scotland is where J.K. Rowling began writing the books.

Watt was perhaps a magician in some sense. For example, he invented the copying machine in 1780, a technology far ahead of its time, similar to modern photocopy, but with ink. He also invented a machine for copying sculptures and medallions (like 3D printing).

His experiments in chemistry yielded chemicals with great industrial applications such as with good bleaching properties.

Lily, Harry's mother, was well versed in magic; a distinguished personality who stood up to bullies like James Potter. Watt's mother, Agnes, was also forceful in character and highly educated. James Watt is said to have inherited his mother's intellect.

Summing up, it almost feels like James Watt is the inspiration for Harry Potter. In a way. Well, for physics lovers, who also happen to be Potterheads, this is just a very good news!

Who are smartest physicists according to Lev Landau?

Lev Landau was a Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist who is known for his work in quantum mechanics and superfluidity. He was born on 22 January, 1908 to highly educated Jewish parents in Azerbaijan. His father was an engineer while his mother was a doctor.

It is no surprise then that Landau was a child prodigy. He learned to differentiate as well as integrate by the time he was 13 years old. His parents thought he was too young to attend university so he had to wait for another two years.

At age 16, he was allowed to join the Leningrad State University, from where he graduated with flying colors, in 1927. After this, he travelled the entirety of Europe, met and worked alongside renowned physicists of the time such as Bohr, Dirac and Pauli.

Having known and worked with them for some time, Landau devised a genius logarithmic scale. It is a 0-5 ranking of physicists based on the amount of contributions made. He could maintain this ranking system only until his death in 1968 but it still has some of the most notable names.

Since the scale is logarithmic, rank 1 physicist contributions are ten times more (as per Landau) than people ranked 2, and so on. In other words, the higher the rank, the less valuable the physicist is.

Rank 0 Isaac Newton

Rank 0.5 Albert Einstein

Rank 1

This has a list of physicists including Niels Bohr, Satyendra Nath Bose, Paul Dirac, Erwin Schrodinger, Wolfgang Pauli and Werner Heisenberg.

Rank 2.5 Lev Landau

This ranking system was so intriguing that other physicists continued it even after Landau's death. In 1965, Lev Landau was awarded the Nobel Prize. As a result, his ranking was improved to 2. After his death in 1968, he was granted an even higher ranking of 1.5.

In 2004, Russian physicist Vitaly Ginzburg ranked Richard Feynman in the 1 category. Physicist Hans Bethe was inducted alongside Landau in the 1.5 category.

Rank 3 Edward Witten

Rank 4.5 David Mermin

Rank 5 Mundane physicists

10 Discoveries By Newton That Changed The World

Isaac Newton is one of the few names that will forever be enshrined in physics history and that too with a lot of glamour associated. Contributions of none other physicist match his, well, probably Einstein's, or not even his!? The following are Newton's ten most well-known works that changed the world later on.

Laws of motion

1. An object will remain at rest or move in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.

2. F=ma.

3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton's three laws of motion, along with thermodynamics, stimulated the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Much of the society built today owes to these laws.

Binomial Theorem

Around 1665, Isaac Newton discovered the Binomial Theorem, a method to expand the powers of sum of two terms. He generalized the same in 1676. The binomial theorem is used in probability theory and in the computing sciences.

Inverse square law

By using Kepler's laws of planetary motion, Newton derived the inverse square law of gravity. This means that the force of gravity between two objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. This law is used to launch satellites into space.

Newton's cannon

Newton was a strong supporter of Copernican Heliocentrism. This was a thought experiment by Newton to illustrate orbit or revolution of moon around earth (and hence, earth around the Sun).

He imagined a very tall mountain at the top of Earth on which a cannon is loaded. If too much gunpowder is used, then the cannonball will fly into space. If too little is used, then the ball wouldn't travel far. Just the right amount of powder will make the ball orbit the Earth.

Calculus

Newton invented the differential calculus when he was trying to figure out the problem of accelerating body. Whereas Leibniz is best-known for the creation of integral calculus. The calculus is at the foundation of higher level mathematics. Calculus is used in physics and engineering, such as to improve the architecture of buildings and bridges.

Rainbow

Newton was the first to understand the formation of rainbow. He also figured out that white light was a combination of 7 colors. This he demonstrated by using a disc, which is painted in the colors, fixed on an axis. When rotated, the colors mix, leading to a whitish hue.

Newton's disc

Reflecting Telescope

In 1666, Newton imagined a telescope with mirrors which he finished making two years later in 1668. It has many advantages over refracting telescope such as clearer image, cheap cost, etc.

Law of cooling

His law states that the rate of heat loss in a body is proportional to the difference in the temperatures between the body and its surroundings. The more the difference, the sooner the cup of tea will cool down.

Classification of cubics

Newton found 72 of the 78 "species" of cubic curves and categorized them into four types. In 1717, Scottish mathematician James Stirling proved that every cubic was one of these four types.

some cubic curves (Wiki)

Alchemy

At that time, alchemy was the equivalent of chemistry. Newton was very interested in this field apart from his works in physics. He conducted many experiments in chemistry and made notes on creating a philosopher's stone.

Newton could not succeed in this attempt but he did manage to invent many types of alloys including a purple copper alloy and a fusible alloy (Bi, Pb, Sn). The alloy has medical applications (radiotherapy).

7 Facts About Johannes Kepler You Didn't Know

Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer who discovered the three laws of planetary motion. Apart from his contributions to astronomy, he is also known to have pioneered the field of optics. In this post, let's read some amazing facts about Kepler and his work.

Early Affliction

He suffered from small pox at a very early age. The disease left him with a weak eyesight. Isn't it wonderful then how he went on to invent eyeglasses for near-eye and far-eye sightedness?

Introduction to Astronomy

Kepler's childhood was worsened by his family's financial troubles. At the age of 6, Johannes had to drop out of school so to earn money for the family. He worked as a waiter in an inn.

In the same year, his mother took him out at night to show him the Great Comet of 1577 which aroused his life-long interest in science and astronomy.

Copernican Supporter

At a time when everyone was against the heliocentric model of the universe, Kepler became its outspoken supporter. He was the first person to defend the Copernican theory from both a scientific and a religious perspective.

Contemporary of Galileo

Galileo was not a great supporter of Kepler's work especially when Kepler had proposed that the Moon had an influence over the water (tides). It would take an understanding by Newton many decades later which would prove Kepler correct and Galileo wrong.

Pioneer of Optics

Kepler made ground-breaking contributions to optics including the formulation of inverse-square law governing the intensity of light; inventing an improved refracting telescope; and correctly explaining the functioning of the human eye.

Helped Newton

His planetary laws went on to help Sir Isaac Newton derive the inverse square law of gravity. Newton had famously acknowledged Kepler's role, in a quote: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giant(s)."

Kepler's Legacy

There is a mountain range in New Zealand named after the famous astronomer. A crater on the Moon is called Kepler's crater. NASA paid tribute to the scientist by naming their exo-planet finding telescope, Kepler.

When Pioneer of Thermodynamics Was Rejected

Sometimes an idea is so far ahead of the time that when proposed it is met with suspicion and mockery. This happened with English physicist and mathematician James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) when he tried to publish his concept of heat.

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Joule was an avid reader and grew up interested particularly in the field of electricity. He and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other. However, a long-time association with his father's brewery business drew him closer to studying the nature of heat.

In 1843, Joule identified heat as a form of energy. This idea was rejected by the Royal Society because at that time heat was considered to be a "material fluid" which flowed from hot to cold body.

Joule's concept posited that heat was not a fluid but rather a "vibration" from one molecule to another. But at that time (1840s) the existence of atoms and molecules was a disputed subject among scientists. Therefore, Joule's visualization of heat was deemed mere fantasy.

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Despite initial rejection, Joule tried to demonstrate his idea mechanically in 1845. His experiment involved the use of a falling weight, in which gravity does the mechanical work, to spin a paddle wheel in an insulated barrel of water. The spinning increased the temperature of water.

Thus, the experiment not only showed that work and energy were equivalent but also that potential energy of the falling weight was getting converted into heat, hence the rise in temperature. So, heat must be a form of energy.

Joule was laughed at in the beginning but he kept on trying, until his idea became common-sense and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1850.

He went on to work with renowned British physicist William Thomson, aka Lord Kelvin. Together, they developed the absolute temperature scale and published the Joule-Thomson effect, in 1852, a process which has applications in cooling appliances such as refrigerator and air conditioner.

Today, the SI unit of work (and energy) has been named Joule in his honor. He is also widely recognized as one of the founders of thermodynamics as his results led to the formation of the first law.