Władysław Natanson (1864–1937) was a Polish
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 ...
. Natanson was head of Theoretical Physics at
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
from 1899 to 1935.
[ Theoretical Physics in Poland Before 1939]
Retrieved March 29, 2010 He is known for first proposing the concept of
indistinguishable particles leading to
quantum statistics.
Family
He came from a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family of
bankers, being the grandson of Samuel Natanson (1795–1879), the son of Ludwik Natanson (1821–1896), a
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
, and Natalia Epstein. His brother was the
industrialist Edward Natanson (1861–1940), father of physicist Ludwik Karol Natanson (1905–1992).
Research
He published a series of papers on thermodynamically irreversible processes, gaining him recognition in the rapidly growing field. He was the first to consider the distinguishability of energy quanta in the statistical analysis of elementary processes, a precursor of the concept of
quantum indistinguishability. He discovered a quantum statistics, rediscovered 11 years later by
Satyendra Nath Bose and generalized by
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
though his derivation was not in terms of einstein's light quanta aka photons – the
Bose–Einstein statistics.
[ ]
See also
*
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
*Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzesk ...
(physicicsts)
Notes
Members of the Lwów Scientific Society
1864 births
1937 deaths
Academic staff of Jagiellonian University
Rectors of the Jagiellonian University
19th-century Polish physicists
20th-century Polish physicists
Physicists from Austria-Hungary
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