Louis food

Louis Essen (born September 6, 1908 in Nottingham , † August 24, 1997 in Great Bookham ) was an English physicist .

He made valuable contributions to the precise measurement of time and the determination of the speed of light by building an electric cavity resonator with which it was possible for him to channel microwave radiation into a closed, hollow metal cylinder. If the height is an integral multiple of half the wavelength , a standing wave is created . The wavelength of the radiation is different in free space than in the cavity, but in the case of resonance this microwave radiation is the same as that in free space. In 1950 he published a value of 299,792.5 ± 1 km / s for the speed of light.

Essen was responsible for the British time standard for decades. As a physicist, he had been interested in problems related to the theory of relativity from the start. He was a persistent critic of the special theory of relativity , particularly the concept of time dilation , which he strictly rejected. He refused to take the Lorentz factor into account in clock synchronization .

literature

Claude Audoin, Jacques Vanier: Atomic frequency standards and clocks. In: Journal of Physics E: Scientific Instruments. Volume 9, No. 9, 1976, pp. 697-720, doi : 10.1088 / 0022-3735 / 9/9/001 .

Web links

Commons : Louis Essen - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Atomic Clocks in Science Museum (English)

Individual evidence

^ Louis Essen, Jack VL Parry: An atomic standard of frequency and time interval: A Cæsium Resonator. In: Nature . Volume 176, No. 4476, 1955, pp. 280-282, doi : 10.1038 / 176280a0 .
↑ Louis Essen: Proposed new value for the velocity of light. In: Nature. Volume 167, No. 4242, 1951, pp. 258-259, doi : 10.1038 / 167258a0 .
↑ Louis Essen: A new æther-drift experiment. In: Nature. Volume 175, No. 4462, 1955, pp. 793-794, doi : 10.1038 / 175793a0 .
↑ Louis Essen: The Special Theory of Relativity. A Critical Analysis (= Oxford research papers. 5). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1971, ISBN 0-19-851921-4 .
↑ Louis Essen: Relativity - joke or swindle? In: Electronics & Wireless World. Volume 94, 1988, pp. 126-127 .

personal data
SURNAME	Eat, Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 6, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nottingham
DATE OF DEATH	August 24, 1997
Place of death	Great Bookham

[1] Louis Essen, Jack VL Parry: An atomic standard of frequency and time interval: A Cæsium Resonator. In: Nature . Volume 176, No. 4476, 1955, pp. 280-282, doi : 10.1038 / 176280a0 .

[2] Louis Essen: Proposed new value for the velocity of light. In: Nature. Volume 167, No. 4242, 1951, pp. 258-259, doi : 10.1038 / 167258a0 .

[3] Louis Essen: A new æther-drift experiment. In: Nature. Volume 175, No. 4462, 1955, pp. 793-794, doi : 10.1038 / 175793a0 .

[4] Louis Essen: The Special Theory of Relativity. A Critical Analysis (= Oxford research papers. 5). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1971, ISBN 0-19-851921-4 .

[5] Louis Essen: Relativity - joke or swindle? In: Electronics & Wireless World. Volume 94, 1988, pp. 126-127 .