Wilhelm Eduard Weber

German physicist (1804–1891)

Weber was the son of a professor of divinity and brother of the noted scientists Ernst Heinrich Weber and Eduard Friedrich Weber, both of whom worked in anatomy and physiology. He was born in Wittenberg in Germany and studied physics at Halle, where his early research concerned acoustics. He obtained his PhD in 1826 for a thesis on reed organ pipes. He remained teaching at Halle until 1831 when he was made professor of physics at Göttingen on the recommendation of the mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss.

Some of Weber's research was done in collaboration with his brothers. Thus in 1824 he published work on wave motion with Ernst, and in 1833 he and Eduard investigated the mechanism of walking. However, most of his academic life was spent working with Gauss. In 1833 they built the first practical telegraph between their laboratories to coordinate their experiments on geomagnetism. In 1837 Weber lost his post for opposing the new king of Hannover's interference with the State constitution. Nevertheless, he stayed in Göttingen for a further six years until he was appointed professor at Leipzig. Here, he improved the tangent galvanometer invented by Hermann von Helmholtz and built an electrodynamometer suitable for studying the force produced by one electric current on another.

His main work was the development of a system of units that expressed electrical concepts in terms of mass, length, and time. Gauss had previously done this for magnetism. Since force was expressed in these dimensions, he was then able to find his law of electric force. The principle was not very satisfactory because it did not conserve energy, but with it Weber publicized the view that matter was made up of charged particles held together by the force. This inspired the direction that physics took in the latter half of the century. The units of Gauss and Weber were adopted at an international conference in Paris in 1881. The unit of magnetic flux (the weber) is named in his honor.

In 1849 he returned to his post in Göttingen and collaborated with R. H. A. Kohlrausch in measuring the ratio between static and dynamic units of electric charge. This turned out to be the speed of light; this unexpected link between electricity and optics became central to James Clerk Maxwell's great development of electromagnetic field theory.

Weber, Friedrich Wilhelm, (Althausen, Westphalia, 1813-94, Nieheim nr. Höxter), studied philology, then medicine (Greifswald and Breslau), qualified as a physician, and practised in the Westphalian towns of Driburg and Lippspringe. A Roman Catholic, he was elected to the Prussian Parliament in 1861 as a member of the Zentrum, and held his seat over a number of elections.

Weber first became known in letters as a translator of English and Scandinavian poets (Tennyson's Enoch Arden, 1868, Aylmer's Field, 1870, Maud, 1874, and Schwedische Lieder, 1872). His most successful original work was an epic on a religious subject, Dreizehnlinden (1878). He published Gedichte in 1881, a volume of religious verse, Marienblumen, in 1885, and another with the title Vaterunser in 1887. A second epic, Goliath, and a further volume of religious verse (Das Leiden unseres Heilandes) followed in 1892. A last collection of verse appeared posthumously (Herbstblätter, 1895). Gesammelte Dichtungen (3 vols.) appeared in 1922.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: German physicist and brother of E. H. Weber; noted for his studies of terrestrial magnetism (1804-1891)
  Synonym: Weber

Wilhelm Weber
Born	Wilhelm Eduard Weber 24 October 1804(1804-10-24) Wittenberg, Germany
Died	23 June 1891 (aged 86) Göttingen, Germany
Nationality	German
Fields	Physicist
Institutions	University of Göttingen University of Halle University of Leipzig
Alma mater	University of Halle University of Göttingen
Doctoral advisor	Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger
Doctoral students	Ernst Abbe Friedrich Kohlrausch Eduard Riecke
Other notable students	Gottlob Frege Arthur Schuster
Known for	First use of 'c' for speed of light Work on magnetism Electrodynamometer Telegraphy
Notable awards	Copley Medal (1859) Matteucci Medal (1879)
Signature
Notes The SI unit of magnetic flux is named after him. He was the brother of Ernst Heinrich Weber and Eduard Friedrich Weber. His father was Michael Weber.

Wilhelm Eduard Weber (24 October 1804 – 23 June 1891) was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Career 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early years

Weber was born in Wittenberg, where his father, Michael Weber, was professor of theology. William was the second of three brothers, all of whom were distinguished by an aptitude for science. After the dissolution of the University of Wittenberg his father was transferred to Halle during 1815. William had received his first lessons from his father, but was now sent to the Orphan Asylum and Grammar School at Halle. After that he entered the University, and devoted himself to natural philosophy. He distinguished himself so much in his classes, and by original work, that after taking his degree of Doctor and becoming a Privatdozent he was appointed Professor Extraordinary of natural philosophy at Halle.

Career

During 1831, on the recommendation of Carl Friedrich Gauss, he was hired by the university of Göttingen as professor of physics, at the age of twenty-seven. His lectures were interesting, instructive, and suggestive. Weber thought that, in order to thoroughly understand physics and apply it to daily life, mere lectures, though illustrated by experiments, were insufficient, and he encouraged his students to experiment themselves, free of charge, in the college laboratory. As a student of twenty years he, with his brother, Ernst Heinrich Weber, Professor of Anatomy at Leipzig, had written a book on the Wave Theory and Fluidity, which brought its authors a considerable reputation. Acoustics was a favourite science of his, and he published numerous papers upon it in Poggendorffs Annalen, Schweigger's Jahrbücher für Chemie und Physik, and the musical journal Carcilia. The 'mechanism of walking in mankind' was another study, undertaken in conjunction with his younger brother, Eduard Weber. These important investigations were published between the years 1825 and 1838. Gauss and Weber constructed the first electromagnetic telegraph during 1833, which connected the observatory with the institute for physics in Göttingen.

Dismissed by the Hanoverian Government for his liberal political opinions, Weber travelled for a time, visiting England, among other countries, and became professor of physics in Leipzig from 1843 to 1849, when he was reinstalled at Göttingen. One of his most important works was the Atlas des Erdmagnetismus ("atlas of geomagnetism"), a series of magnetic maps, and it was chiefly through his efforts that magnetic observatories were instituted. He studied magnetism with Gauss, and during 1864 published his Electrodynamic Proportional Measures containing a system of absolute measurements for electric currents, which forms the basis of those in use. Weber died in Göttingen, where he is buried in the same cemetery as Max Planck and Max Born.

He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences during 1855.

The SI unit of magnetic flux, the weber (symbol: Wb) is named after him.

See also

German inventors and discoverers

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Jackson

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wilhelm Eduard Weber

• Gauss, Carl Friedrich; Weber, Wilhelm Eduard (1840), Atlas Des Erdmagnetismus: Nach Den Elementen Der Theorie Entworfen, Leipzig: Weidmann'sche Buchhandlung, http://books.google.com/books?id=uTkAAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=wilhelm+weber&as_brr=1#PPP5,M1 
• G.C.F. (1844). "Wilhelm Eduard Weber". Nature 44: 229 – 230. doi:10.1038/044229b0. http://books.google.com/books?id=Si8CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA230&dq=wilhelm+eduard+weber&as_brr=1#PPA229,M1. Retrieved 2007-11-16.  - obituary
• Urbanitsky, Alfred; Wormell, Richard (1886), Electricity in the Service of Man, London: Cassell and Company, pp. 756 – 758, http://books.google.com/books?id=MEgOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA756&dq=wilhelm+weber+physics&as_brr=1#PPA757,M2  - Telegraph of Weber and Gauss (with pictures)
• "Weber, Wilhelm Eduard". Virtual Laboratory. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/people/data?id=per155. Retrieved 2007-09-05. 
• Jackson, Myles W. Harmonious Triads: Physicists, Musicians, and Instrument Makers in Nineteenth-Century German (MIT Press, 2006; paperback 2008).

External links

• Biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Persondata
NAME	Weber, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	October 24, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wittenberg, Germany
DATE OF DEATH	June 23, 1891
PLACE OF DEATH	Göttingen, Germany

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)