Julius Elster

Grave of Julius Elster in the main cemetery in Wolfenbüttel

Julius Johann Phillipp Ludwig Elster (* December 24, 1854 in Blankenburg , † April 8, 1920 in Bad Harzburg ) was a teacher and an important physicist .

Life

The family of forester Geitel had moved to Blankenburg in 1861. Elster and Geitel grew up in the immediate vicinity and attended school and high school together. The personal friendship deepened through the same interest in the natural sciences during the student years in Heidelberg and Berlin. After completing the teacher training exam in Braunschweig , they parted ways for a short time. From 1881 they worked together at the Große Schule high school in Wolfenbüttel and used their free time for experimental research. There also scored Karl Bergwitz (1875-1958) to their students.

Elster had been a member of the Leopoldina since 1892 . In 1902 he was elected a foreign member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1915 he - together with Geitel - was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Braunschweig . In 1919 Julius Elster was diagnosed with a disease ( diabetes mellitus ). In April 1920 the Privy Councilor Julius Elster died in Bad Harzburg during a stay at a spa.

Act

Together with his friend Hans Geitel , he has made a valuable contribution with well over 100 publications on air electricity, the intensity of starlight, problems of ionizing radiation (example: "About the radioactivity of the earth's substance and its possible relationship to geothermal energy") and other important research areas for the further development of physics. In 1893 Julius Elster and Geitel invented the first photoelectric cell, the photocell .

literature

Rudolf GA Fricke: J. Elster & H. Geitel. Young friends, high school teachers, scientists out of passion. Döring Druck, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-925268-12-X .
E. Rudolf Ottmer : Elster, Julius. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 468 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Julius (Johann Phillipp Ludwig) Elster: 1854 - 1920 ( Memento from March 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
Big school in Wolfenbüttel
Literature by and about Julius Elster in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 75.
^ Kurt Jäger, Friedrich Heilbronner: Lexicon of electrical engineers . 2nd Edition. VDE-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8007-2903-6 , p. 117 .

personal data
SURNAME	Magpie, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Elster, Julius Johann Phillipp Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German teacher and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	December 24, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH	Blankenburg
DATE OF DEATH	April 8, 1920
Place of death	Bad Harzburg

[1] Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 75.

[jaeg1-2] Kurt Jäger, Friedrich Heilbronner: Lexicon of electrical engineers . 2nd Edition. VDE-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8007-2903-6 , p. 117 .