Gustav Robert Kirchhoff
Gustav Kirchhoff
Born	12 March 1824(1824-03-12) Königsberg, East Prussia
Died	17 October 1887 (aged 63) Berlin, Germany
Residence	Germany
Nationality	German
Fields	Physicist
Institutions	University of Berlin University of Breslau University of Heidelberg
Alma mater	University of Königsberg
Doctoral advisor	Franz Ernst Neumann
Doctoral students	Max Noether Ernst Schröder
Known for	Kirchhoff's circuit laws Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation
Notable awards	Rumford medal

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (March 12, 1824 – October 17, 1887) was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving Year 1824 ( MDCCCXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Year 1887 ( MDCCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A physicist is a Scientist who studies or practices Physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning An electrical network is an interconnection of Electrical elements such as Resistors Inductors Capacitors Transmission lines Voltage Spectroscopy was originally the study of the interaction between Radiation and Matter as a function of Wavelength (λ In Physics, a black body is an object that absorbs all light that falls on it He coined the term "black body" radiation in 1862, and two sets of independent concepts in both circuit theory and thermal emission are named "Kirchhoff's laws" after him. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday

Life and work

Gustav Kirchhoff was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, the son of Friedrich Kirchhoff, a lawyer, and Johanna Henriette Wittke. Königsberg (Karaliaučius Low German: Königsbarg; Królewiec see also other names) was until 1946 the name of Kaliningrad. East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part He graduated from the Albertus University of Königsberg in 1847 where he attended the mathematico-physical seminar directed by Franz Ernst Neumann and Friedrich Julius Richelot. The University of Königsberg (Albertus-Universität Königsberg was the University of Königsberg, East Prussia. Franz Ernst Neumann ( September 11, 1798 - May 23, 1895) was a German Mineralogist, Physicist and Mathematician He married Clara Richelot, the daughter of his mathematics professor Richelot. In the same year, they moved to Berlin, where he stayed until he received a professorship at Breslau. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia

Kirchhoff formulated his circuit laws, which are now ubiquitous in electrical engineering, in 1845, while still a student. For other laws named after Gustav Kirchhoff, see Kirchhoff's laws. Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of Engineering that deals with the study and application of Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common He completed this study as a seminar exercise; it later became his doctoral dissertation. He proposed his law of thermal radiation in 1859, and gave a proof in 1861. See also Kirchhoff's laws for other laws named after Kirchhoff. He was called to the University of Heidelberg in 1854, where he collaborated in spectroscopic work with Robert Bunsen. The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg ( University of Heidelberg, Ruperto Carola, Heidelberg University, or simply Heidelberg) is a Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (31 March 1811 &ndash 16 August 1899 was a German Chemist. Together Kirchhoff and Bunsen discovered caesium and rubidium in 1861. Caesium or cesium (ˈsiːziəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Cs and Atomic number 55 Rubidium (ruːˈbɪdiəm /rəˈbɪdiəm/ is a Chemical element with the symbol Rb and Atomic number 37 At Heidelberg he ran a mathematico-physical seminar, modelled on Neumann's, with the mathematician Leo Koenigsberger. Heidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2006 over 140000 people live within the city's area Among those who attended this seminar were Arthur Schuster and Sofia Kovalevskaya. Sir Franz Arthur Friedrich Schuster FRS ( September 12 1851 &ndash October 17 1934) was a versatile German -born British Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Софья Васильевна Ковалевская In 1875 Kirchhoff accepted the first chair specifically dedicated to theoretical physics at Berlin. Theoretical physics employs Mathematical models and Abstractions of Physics in an attempt to explain experimental data taken of the natural world Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany.

In 1862 he was awarded the Rumford Medal for his researches on the fixed lines of the solar spectrum, and on the inversion of the bright lines in the spectra of artificial light. Not to be confused with the Rumford Prize In 1796, Benjamin Thompson known as Count Rumford, gave $5000 separately to the Royal

He contributed greatly to the field of spectroscopy by formalizing three laws that describe the spectral composition of light emitted by incandescent objects, building substantially on the discoveries of David Alter and Anders Jonas Angstrom (see also: spectrum analysis)

Kirchhoff died in 1887, and was buried in the St Matthäus Kirchhof Cemetery in Schöneberg, Berlin, only a few meters from the graves of the Brothers Grimm. Light, or visible light, is Electromagnetic radiation of a Wavelength that is visible to the Human eye (about 400–700 David Alter ( December 3 1807 &ndash September 18 1881) was a prominent American inventor and scientist of the 19th century Anders Jonas Ångström ( August 13, 1814 &ndash June 21, 1874) was a Physicist in Sweden, one Spectrum analysis also known as Emission Spectrochemical Analysis is the original scientific method of charting and analyzing the chemical properties of matter and gases by looking Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. The Brothers Grimm ( German: Die Gebrüder Grimm) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm,

Kirchhoff's three laws of spectroscopy:

1. A hot solid object produces light with a continuous spectrum.
2. A hot tenuous gas produces light with spectral lines at discrete wavelengths (i. A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from an excess or deficiency of photons in a narrow frequency range compared In Physics wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating Wave of a given Frequency. e. specific colors) which depend on the energy levels of the atoms in the gas. (See also: emission spectrum)
3. A hot solid object surrounded by a cool tenuous gas (i. An element's 'emission spectrum' is the relative intensity of Electromagnetic radiation of each Frequency it emits when it is Heated (or more generally when e. cooler than the hot object) produces light with an almost continuous spectrum which has gaps at discrete wavelengths depending on the energy levels of the atoms in the gas. (See also: absorption spectrum)

The existence of discrete spectral lines was later explained by the Bohr model of the atom, which helped lead to quantum mechanics. A material's absorption spectrum shows the fraction of incident Electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the material over a range of Frequencies. In Atomic physics, the Bohr model created by Niels Bohr depicts the Atom as a small positively charged nucleus surrounded by Electrons Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons

See also

Spectroscope of Kirchhoff and Bunsen

• Kirchhoff's circuit laws
• Kirchhoff equations
• Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor
• Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation
• Kirchhoff Institute of Physics
• Spectrum analysis
• Spectroscope
• Kirchhoff's theorem

References

Grave of Gustav Kirchhoff

• Gustav Kirchhoff at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• O'Connor, John J. For other laws named after Gustav Kirchhoff, see Kirchhoff's laws. The motion of a rigid body in an ideal fluid can be expressed in a basis fixed to the body by Kirchhoff's equations: {d\over{dt}} = \times \vec \omega + \times \vec v Stress is a measure of the average amount of Force exerted per unit Area. See also Kirchhoff's laws for other laws named after Kirchhoff. The Faculty of Physics and Astronomy is one of twelve faculties at the University of Heidelberg. Spectrum analysis also known as Emission Spectrochemical Analysis is the original scientific method of charting and analyzing the chemical properties of matter and gases by looking A spectrometer is an Optical instrument used to measure properties of Light over a specific portion of the Electromagnetic spectrum, typically used In the mathematical field of Graph theory Kirchhoff's theorem or Kirchhoff's matrix tree theorem named after Gustav Kirchhoff is a theorem about The Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based Database that gives an Academic genealogy based on Dissertation supervision relations & Robertson, Edmund F. , “Gustav Kirchhoff”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive 
• Weisstein, Eric W. The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is an award-winning website maintained by John J , Kirchhof, Gustav (1824-1887) at ScienceWorld. ScienceWorld, also known as Eric Weisstein's World of Science, is a Web site that opened to the general public in January 2002.