Eduard Rüchardt

Eduard Rüchardt (born March 17, ^jul. / 29. March 1888 ^greg. In Moscow , † 7. March 1962 in Munich ) was a German physicist , who especially in the field of canal rays worked.

Live and act

Eduard Rüchardt received home schooling in Moscow, where his father was a partner in a trading company. From 1905 he attended a grammar school in Dresden . From 1908 he studied physics in Jena , in Freiburg i. Br. And from 1910 at the University of Würzburg , where he received his doctorate in 1914 under Wilhelm Wien with a thesis on the efficiency of phosphorescence excitation by canal rays. In 1920 he went with Vienna to the University of Munich , where he completed his habilitation in 1922. On April 7, 1925, he married Marie Nonnenbruch (born November 11, 1893 in Munich; † 1973 in Munich), the daughter of the painter Max Nonnenbruch . He stayed in Munich until his retirement in 1956, from 1946 he was a full professor. In 1947 he became a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences elected

Until 1939 Rüchardt worked exclusively in the field of canal radiation physics. In the Handbuch der Physik , edited by Hans Geiger and Karl Scheel , he wrote the extensive chapter on the passage of canal rays through matter in 1927. In 1930 he succeeded in making the first reliable detection of the oxygen isotope ¹⁸ O. The conclusion of his work on canal rays was formed by experiments he had initiated to solve two problems with the help of canal rays. His doctoral student Heinz Billing carried out the mirror rotation experiment proposed by Albert Einstein , with which the wave-particle dualism could again be experimentally confirmed. The results were published in 1938. Another PhD student from Rüchardts (Gerhard Otting) succeeded in quantitatively very precise proof of the transverse Doppler effect ( Ives-Stilwell experiment ) with a canal beam experiment . From 1939 until his retirement, Rüchardt worked in a different field of research, that of electrical contacts , with publications by him and his students ranging from measuring the resistance of thin insulating layers in the tunnel effect to superconducting contacts.

He also became known through the Rüchardt experiment , which is used to determine the molar heat capacities and for gases. ${\ displaystyle c_ {p}}$ ${\ displaystyle c_ {V}}$

In addition to his many scientific articles, he published popular science books and articles in various periodicals .

Marie Nonnenbruch married on April 7, 1925

Publications (selection)

Visible and invisible light. (= Understandable Science. Volume 35). Springer, Berlin.

literature

Walther Gerlach : Eduard Rüchardt obituary in the 1963 yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (PDF file).
Walther Gerlach: Eduard Rüchardt (obituary) . In: Physical sheets . tape 18 , no. 7 , 1962, pp. 326 , doi : 10.1002 / phbl.19620180709 .

Web links

Horst Kant : Rüchardt, Eduard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 205 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

↑ Eduard Rüchardt: About the efficiency with the phosphorescence excitation by channel rays . In: Annals of Physics . tape 350 , no. 23 , 1914, pp. 1063-1088 , doi : 10.1002 / andp.19143502306 .

personal data
SURNAME	Rüchardt, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	March 29, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Moscow
DATE OF DEATH	March 7, 1962
Place of death	Munich

[1] Eduard Rüchardt: About the efficiency with the phosphorescence excitation by channel rays . In: Annals of Physics . tape 350 , no. 23 , 1914, pp. 1063-1088 , doi : 10.1002 / andp.19143502306 .