Arthur Erich Haas

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Arthur Erich Haas (born April 30, 1884 in Brno , † February 20, 1941 in Chicago ) was an Austrian physicist .

Life

Arthur Erich Haas grew up as the eldest son of the lawyer Gustav Haas in Brno. There he attended the German grammar school, where he graduated in 1902.

From 1902 he studied mathematics and physics at the universities of Vienna and Göttingen . In 1906 he obtained his doctorate in Vienna. phil. with a dissertation on ancient light theories . In the following years he was mainly concerned with the history of science and in 1909 submitted a habilitation thesis on the history of the development of the principle of conservation of force , which was rejected.

He then turned disappointed to physical studies and published several books in the field of atomic physics . He succeeded in 1910, the first time a link between the quantum hypothesis by Max Planck to produce and atomic physics.

In 1912 he was finally able to complete his habilitation with his work on the equilibrium positions of electron groups . In the same year he became professor for the history of physics at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leipzig , where he also held courses in theoretical physics and in 1919 published the textbook "Introduction to Theoretical Physics". From 1923 to 1935 he taught as a professor at the University of Vienna. In 1924 he was visiting professor at University College London , in 1927 and 1931 he held guest lectures at numerous universities in the USA at the invitation of the Institute of International Education.

In 1924 he married Emma Beatrice Huber and the couple had two sons.

In 1935, Haas emigrated with his family to the USA and was initially visiting professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick , Maine. A year later he became professor of physics at Notre Dame University near South Bend , Indiana , where he stayed until his death in 1941. In 1937 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society .

Services

In 1910 Haas developed an atomic model that contained Planck's quantum of action for the first time . On the basis of his model for the hydrogen atom, he derived an expression for the Rydberg constant from basic constants only and thus anticipated Niels Bohr's formula by three years in a similar form . The difference in the formula was due to the fact that Haas used Thomson's atomic model , while Bohr used Rutherford's atomic model , and moreover identified the normal state of the atom with the ground state of the Balmer series .

Haas developed an early interest in cosmological questions that were not only physical, but also philosophical and theological. In papers from 1907 and 1911 he concluded that an eternally existing universe would be inconsistent with the laws of physics, which he justified not only with the second law of thermodynamics , but also with the limited lifespan of radioactive elements. It was the first time that radioactivity was considered in a cosmological context. He supported the big bang theory and, like Georges Lemaître, took the view that the universe must have a finite extent.

In addition to his “Introduction to Theoretical Physics”, the first modern textbook on theoretical physics, Haas wrote numerous other textbooks that were widely distributed and translated into ten languages.

In 1920 Haas developed a theory for the isotope effect in rotational spectra, independent of Francis Wheeler Loomis (1889–1976) and Adolf Kratzer , who put forward the same theory.

In 1938 he organized one of the first conferences on physical cosmology at the University of Notre Dame under the title “The Physics of the Universe and the Nature of Primordial Particles”, at which Harlow Shapley , Arthur Holly Compton , Georges Lemaître and Carl David, among others Anderson attended.

Fonts

  • The beginnings of mathematical physics . In: Festschrift Moritz Cantor on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. Leipzig 1909, pp. 110-117. ( Digitized version of Heidelberg University )
  • About the electrodynamic meaning of Planck's law of radiation and about a new determination of the electrical elementary quantum and the dimension of the hydrogen atom . In: Meeting reports of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Dept. IIa, Vol. 119, pp. 119–144 (1910)
  • Introduction to theoretical physics . 2 vols. (1919)
  • New Physics' view of nature . (1920)
  • Atomic theory . (1924)
  • Matter waves and quantum mechanics . (1928)
  • The basics of quantum chemistry . (1929)
  • Encroachments of chemical elements . (1935)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Haas, Arthur Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian physicist
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Brno
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1941
Place of death Chicago