Open RQC colloquium. Lecture 45

Abstract

Because of the rapid development of artificial illumination at the end of the 19th century, there existed a strong need at the time for quantitative optical data and a reliable light standard. Therefore, in the optical laboratory of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin, the spectral distribution of the light intensity, emitted from a hot body, was measured accurately over a large frequency range. The new data could not be explained by the known theoretical models. Between October and December 1900 Max Planck was able to derive his famous radiation law based on Boltzmann’s probabilistic interpretation of entropy. As his key new concept, Planck introduced the quantization of the radiation energy in terms of discrete energy elements hν with the universal Planck’s constant h. Whereas for nearly 10 years Planck did not accept the full meaning of the quantum physics, it were Albert Einstein, who in 1905 with his light quanta and in 1906 with his quantization of the lattice vibrations in crystals, and a few years later Walther Nernst with his specific-heat measurements, who pushed forward the new ideas of the quantum physics.

Biography

Rudolf Huebener studied physics and mathematics at the University of Marburg and at the Technical Universities of Munich and Darmstadt. In 1958 he obtained his PhD in Experimental Physics in Marburg. After working at the Research Center in Karlsruhe and in a Research Laboratory near Albany, New York, USA, he spent 12 years in the Solid State Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois. In 1974 he accepted an appointment to a Chair of Experimental Physics at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, where he worked until his retirement in 1999. The research of Rudolf Huebener focused on low-temperature solid-state physics and concentrated on electronic transport properties and superconductivity. He wrote a number of books, such as an introductory text to solid-state physics and some books on the history of physics. In 1992 he received the Max-Planck Research Prize, together with C. C. Tsuei, and in 2001 the Cryogenics Prize.

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