Heinrich Gustav Johannes Kayser ForMemRS[1] (German: [ˈkaɪzɐ]; 16 March 1853 – 14 October 1940) was a German physicist and spectroscopist.[2]

Heinrich Kayser
Born
Heinrich Gustav Johannes Kayser

(1853-03-16)16 March 1853
Died14 October 1940(1940-10-14) (aged 87)
CitizenshipGerman
Alma materSophie Gymnasium (Berlin)
University of Strasbourg
University of Berlin
Known forHelium in the Earth's atmosphere,
spectra,
kayser unit
AwardsForMemRS[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPhysicist, Spectroscopy
InstitutionsTechnische Hochschule, Hannover
University of Bonn
Doctoral advisorWilhelm Röntgen

Biography

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Kayser was born at Bingen am Rhein. Kayser's early work was concerned with the characteristics of acoustic waves.[3] He discovered the occurrence of helium in the Earth's atmosphere in 1868 during a solar eclipse when he detected a new spectral line in the solar spectrum. In 1881, Kayser coined the word "adsorption". Together with Carl Runge, he examined the spectra of chemical elements.[4][5][6] In 1905, he wrote a paper on electron theory.[7]

The kayser unit, associated with wavenumber, of the CGS system was named after him. He died at Bonn in 1940.

 
Kayser at the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory, 1910

Works

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References

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  1. ^ a b Herzberg, Gerhard (1955). "Heinrich Kayser 1853-1940". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 1: 135–143. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1955.0010. S2CID 57995122.
  2. ^ Matthias Dörries and Klaus Hentschel (eds.), Heinrich Kayser, Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben. Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaft, Munich, 1996. ISBN 3-89241-019-4.
  3. ^ Mulligan, Joseph F. (1992). "Doctoral oral examination of Heinrich Kayser, Berlin, 1879". American Journal of Physics. 60 (1): 38. Bibcode:1992AmJPh..60...38M. doi:10.1119/1.17040.
  4. ^ Kayser, Heinrich; Runge, C. (1890). "Über die Spectren der Alkalien". Annalen der Physik. 277 (10): 302–320. Bibcode:1890AnP...277..302K. doi:10.1002/andp.18902771010.
  5. ^ Kayser, H., & Runge, C. (1892). Über die Spektra der Elemente. Berliner Akademie, 1892.
  6. ^ Kayser, Heinrich, and Carl Runge. (1893). Uber die Spectren der elemente. Verlag der Könogl. Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  7. ^ Kayser, Heinrich. (1905). Die elektronentheorie. DC Heath & Company.
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