Hermann von Helmholtz
German physicist and physiologist (1821-1894) · Germany · Scientists · Died at 73
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Something wrong?He figured out that energy doesn't vanish - it just changes shape. Helmholtz tied the first law of thermodynamics together in its most sweeping form, then spent the rest of his life cracking how the eye sees and the ear hears, linking physics to perception in ways that remade both.
A life in dates
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Hermann von Helmholtz
DBP 1994 1752 Hermann von Helmholtz
DBPB 1971 401 Hermann von Helmholtz
DDR-Briefmarke Akademie 1950 10 Pf
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Die Gartenlaube (1891) b 594In their own words 4
, The quantity of force which can be brought into action in the whole of Nature is unchangeable, and can neither be increased nor diminished.
In speaking of the work of machines and of natural forces we must, of course, in this comparison eliminate anything in which activity of intelligence comes into play.
The external work of man is of the most varied kind as regards the force or ease, the form and rapidity, of the motions used on it, and the kind of work produced.
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Born in 1821, Helmholtz trained as a physician but his mind bent toward physics and mathematics. He formulated the conservation of energy principle in its broadest possible terms - work he shares credit for with Mayer, Joule, and Bernoulli, but which he stated most completely. From there he pivoted to the mechanics of human sensation: the mathematics of the eye, theories of how we perceive space and color, the physics of sound and tone. His work on the electrical double layer and chemical thermodynamics ran parallel. Late in life he waded into philosophy, arguing that the laws of perception and the laws of nature were bound together, and his Kantian method helped spark the neo-Kantian movement. In 1883, Emperor William II gave him the "von." He died in 1894, and Germany's largest research institution now carries his name.
In common with Hermann
Robert Andrews MillikanBoth received Matteucci Medal
Johannes StarkBoth received Matteucci Medal
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron RayleighBoth received Faraday Lectureship Prize
Heike Kamerlingh OnnesBoth received Matteucci Medal
Emil FischerBoth received Faraday Lectureship Prize
William Henry BraggBoth received Matteucci MedalFame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.