Das Fotoalbum für Weierstraß 035 (Oskar Emil Meyer)

Oskar Emil Meyer (15 October 1834,

Varel Varel () is a town in the district of Friesland, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Jade River and the Jade Bight, approximately south of Wilhelmshaven and north of Oldenburg. With a population of 23,984 (2020) it is the biggest ...

– 21 April 1909, Breslau) was a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

best known for his studies on the viscosity of gases. He was a younger brother to

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

Lothar von Meyer.

Biography

From 1854 he studied sciences at the universities of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Zurich and

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, where he was a student of

Franz Ernst Neumann Franz Ernst Neumann (11 September 1798 – 23 May 1895) was a German mineralogist, physicist and mathematician. Biography Neumann was born in Joachimsthal, Margraviate of Brandenburg, near Berlin. In 1815 he interrupted his studies at Berlin to ...

. In 1860 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on the friction between two liquids, titled ''De mutua duorum fluidorum frictione''. In 1864 he succeeded

Rudolf Lipschitz Rudolf Otto Sigismund Lipschitz (14 May 1832 – 7 October 1903) was a German mathematician who made contributions to mathematical analysis (where he gave his name to the Lipschitz continuity condition) and differential geometry, as well as numbe ...

as an associate professor at the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

— teaching classes in mathematics and

mathematical physics Mathematical physics refers to the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and t ...

. During the following year he became a full professor at Breslau, and in 1867 succeeded

Moritz Ludwig Frankenheim Moritz Ludwig Frankenheim (29 June 1801 – 14 January 1869) was a Germans, German physicist, geographer, and crystallography, crystallographer. Life and education Moritz Ludwig Frankenheim was born in 1801 in Braunschweig, Brunswick. His fam ...

as director of the Physics Cabinet.

Published works

In 1899 his influential ''Die kinetische Theorie der Gase. In elementarer Darstellung mit mathematischen Zusätzen'' was translated into English and published with the title "The kinetic theory of gases; elementary treatise with mathematical appendices". His other noteworthy written efforts are: * ''Ueber die Reibung der Flüssigkeiten. Nachtrag'', 1863 – On the friction of liquids. *
Vorlesungen über die Theorie der Elasticität der festen Körper und des Lichtäthers
', 1885 (by Franz Ernst Neumann, edited by Meyer) – Lectures on the theory of elasticity of solid bodies and

luminiferous aether Luminiferous aether or ether ("luminiferous", meaning "light-bearing") was the postulated medium for the propagation of light. It was invoked to explain the ability of the apparently wave-based light to propagate through empty space (a vacuum), so ...

. * ''Die Bestimmung der inneren Reibung nach Coulomb's Verfahren'', 1887 – On the definition of

internal friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of t ...

according to Coulomb's method. * ''Gebirgsmagnetismus'', 1889 – Geomagnetism.WorldCat Identities
(published works)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Oskar Emil 1834 births 1909 deaths People from Varel Academic staff of the University of Breslau Heidelberg University alumni University of Zurich alumni University of Königsberg alumni 19th-century German physicists