Olov Hilding Faxén (29 March 1892 – 1 June 1970) was a Swedish

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 cau ...

who was primarily active within

mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

. Faxén received his doctorate in 1921 at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

with the thesis ''Einwirkung der Gefässwände auf den Widerstand gegen die Bewegung einer kleinen Kugel in einer zähen Flüssigkeit'' ("Influence of the container walls on the resistance against movement by a small ball in a viscous fluid"). One of his contributions was to formulate

Faxén's law In fluid dynamics, Faxén's laws relate a sphere's velocity \mathbf and angular velocity \mathbf to the forces, torque, stresslet and flow it experiences under low Reynolds number (creeping flow) conditions. First law Faxen's first law was introduc ...

, which is a correction to

Stokes' law In fluid dynamics, Stokes' law gives the frictional force – also called drag force – exerted on spherical objects moving at very small Reynolds numbers in a viscous fluid. It was derived by George Gabriel Stokes in 1851 by solving the S ...

for the friction on spherical objects in a

viscous Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for example, syrup h ...

fluid In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that may continuously motion, move and Deformation (physics), deform (''flow'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are M ...

, valid in the case when the object moves close to a wall of the container. This was a problem previously treated by

Carl Wilhelm Oseen Carl Wilhelm Oseen (17 April 1879 in Lund – 7 November 1944 in Uppsala) was a theoretical physicist in Uppsala and Director of the Nobel Institute for Theoretical Physics in Stockholm. Life Oseen was born in Lund, and took a Fil. Kand. degree ...

(1910) and

Horace Lamb Sir Horace Lamb (27 November 1849 – 4 December 1934R. B. Potts,, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 54–55. Retrieved 5 Sep 2009) was a British applied mathematician and author of several influential texts on ...

(1911), but incompletely solved. After the death of Ivar Fredholm, Faxén temporarily upheld the chair in mathematical physics at

Stockholm University College Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

, before

Oskar Klein Oskar Benjamin Klein (; 15 September 1894 – 5 February 1977) was a Swedish theoretical physics, theoretical physicist. Oskar Klein is known for his work on Kaluza–Klein theory, which is partially named after him. Biography Klein was born ...

was made the new professor. Faxén then served as professor at Chalmers Institute of Technology, first in mathematics from 1930 and then in mechanics and mathematics 1934–1935. In 1935, Faxén was appointed professor of mechanics at the

Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. Since 2018, KTH consist ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where he remained until his retirement in 1958. Together with the Norwegian physicist Johan Holtsmark, Faxén published a work in 1927 about scattering of

electron The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...

s in gases.H. Faxén und J.P. Holtsmark, ''Beitrag zur Theorie des Durchganges langsamer Elektronen durch Gase'', Zeitschrift für Physik 45, 307–324 (1927). Here they introduced a new, mathematical method based upon partial waves. This is now standard and described in almost every modern book on

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

. In 1948, Faxén was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faxen, Hilding Swedish physicists Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Stockholm University Academic staff of the Chalmers University of Technology Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1892 births 1970 deaths Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala

See also

References