Wilhelm Wien
German physicist (1864-1928) · Germany · Scientists · Died at 64
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Something wrong?Wien figured out how the color of glowing heat shifts with temperature - the law that explains why a forge burns white-hot and a campfire glows red. That displacement rule cracked open the math of blackbody radiation and cleared a path for quantum mechanics.
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1911 Solvay conference
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Gedenkstein Invalidenstr 110 (Mitte) Physiker_Physiker2.jpg?width=1200)
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Gedenkstein Invalidenstr 110 (Mitte) Physiker3_ARD_Hauptstadtstudio.jpg?width=1200)
Gedenktafel Wilhelmstr 67a (Mitte) ARD Hauptstadtstudio
Ludwig von Zumbusch. Bildnis des Herrn Prof. Wien in WürzburgAwards
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Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz Wien was born on 13 January 1864 in Germany. He used theories about heat and electromagnetism to deduce a displacement law that calculates the emission of a blackbody at any temperature from the emission at any one reference temperature. Wien also formulated an expression for black-body radiation correct in the photon-gas limit, with arguments based on adiabatic invariance that proved instrumental for the formulation of quantum mechanics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1911 for his work on heat radiation. Wien died on 30 August 1928. He was a cousin of Max Wien, inventor of the Wien bridge.
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