Ferdinand Kurlbaum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ferdinand Kurlbaum, 1907, photo by Rudolf Dührkoop

Ferdinand Kurlbaum (born October 4, 1857 in Burg , † July 29, 1927 in Berlin ) was a German physicist .

life and work

As the son of a judicial officer, he had to follow his father, who was frequently moved. School problems were the result, and he only graduated from high school when he was 23. He studied mathematics and physics in Heidelberg and Berlin with Hermann Helmholtz . In 1887 the dissertation on the subject of determining the wavelength of Fraunhofer's lines was finished.

This was followed by an assistantship in Hanover. From 1891 he worked in the optical laboratory of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin. The physics of light and heat radiation was his subject. Together with Heinrich Rubens , he carried out series of measurements on the radiation intensity of black bodies . These were important foundations for Planck's law of radiation and thus for quantum physics . Another area of ​​work was the use of X-rays in medicine.

In 1904 Kurlbaum was offered a position at the Technical University of Charlottenburg . Together with Adolf Miethe , he carried out measurements of the solar temperature in Upper Egypt in 1908. From 1908 to 1925 he was head of the Physics Institute at the Technical University of Charlottenburg.

Kurlbaum was President of the German Physical Society from 1910 to 1912 . During the First World War he was an advisor to the artillery examination commission .

Kurlbaum married Elisabeth von Siemens in 1895. They had two daughters and a son. The Georg Kurlbaum Prize of the SPD for innovative economic achievements is named after his son Georg .

Ferdinand Kurlbaum was buried in the Siemens family crypt in the park of Ahlsdorf Castle near Herzberg .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kurlbaum, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Castle
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1927
Place of death Berlin