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Gustav Kirchhoff

German physicist (1824-1887) · Scientists · Died at 63

Gustav Kirchhoff is read about 424 times a day, in 85 languages.

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He gave physics the rules that let current flow make sense and showed that light could fingerprint the elements - work so fundamental that four separate sets of laws carry his name.

ScientistsScientistPhysicsChemistryMathematics19th Century

A life in dates

1887Died17 October 1887Janssen MedalAward1882“All heat rays follow the same laws in their propagation, which are known for light rays.”In their wordsof Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and

“Of the heat rays... sent... to a body by its surroundings a part are absorbed, the others are... varied by reflection and . The rays refracted and reflected... pass off...”In their wordsof Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and

“In certain cases an exception to this rule may occur... [when] absorption and the radiation produce other changes in the body.., for example in bodies...”In their wordsof Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and

“Such cases should be excluded on the assumption that neither by means of the rays which it radiates or absorbs, nor by... other influences... does the body...”In their wordsof Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and

“A ... must have the same as the medium... then there will be no reflection at its surface, and all incident rays... wholly absorbed.”In their wordsof Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and

1877Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and ArtAwardDavy MedalAwardMatteucci MedalAward1876Cothenius MedalAward1875Foreign Member of the Royal SocietyAward1868Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of EdinburghAward1862Rumford MedalAward1824“Let a body which satisfies these conditions be surrounded by an enclosure, having the same temperature [and kept constant], through which no heat rays can penetrate...”In their wordsNotes: Carnot's Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat (1824): The production of motion in steam-engines is always accompanied by... the

Born12 March 1824

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

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In their own words 10

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Gustav Kirchhoff
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10 statements, newest first

  1. Heat rays have the same nature as light rays... The invisible heat rays are distinguished from light rays only by the period of or the wave length.

    1882, of Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and, Own words

  2. All heat rays follow the same laws in their propagation, which are known for light rays.

    1882, of Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and, Own words

  3. Of the heat rays... sent... to a body by its surroundings a part are absorbed, the others are... varied by reflection and . The rays refracted and reflected... pass off...

    1882, of Bodies for Heat and Light. As quoted in The Laws of Radiation and Absorption: Memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and, Own words

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Awards

Janssen Medal1887
Matteucci Medal1877
Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art1877
Davy Medal1877
Cothenius Medal1876
Foreign Member of the Royal Society1875
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh1868
Rumford Medal1862
Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order

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About this person

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was born in Prussia on 12 March 1824 and trained as both physicist and mathematician. His early work cracked open electrical circuits, establishing principles still taught in every engineering course. By 1860 he had moved to light itself: working alongside Robert Bunsen, he helped invent spectroscopy and coined the term "black body" to describe how heated objects radiate. The method let them read the composition of distant stars from their glow. His reach stretched across thermochemistry and diffraction, each field claiming a Kirchhoff law. He died in Berlin on 17 October 1887, leaving physics with a sharper vocabulary and a set of tools it still hasn't outgrown.

Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1824 to 1887 · aged 63

In common with Gustav

Jacobus Henricus van 't HoffBoth received Davy MedalAlbert A. MichelsonBoth received Matteucci MedalMax von LaueBoth received Matteucci MedalWilliam RamsayBoth received Davy MedalEdward Emerson BarnardBoth received Janssen MedalLinus PaulingBoth received Davy Medal

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