Wilhelm Wien
Wien, Wilhelm (1864-1928), a German physicist, is remembered for his work in black body radiation. He won the 1911 Nobel Prize in physics for “his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat.” Wien also studied cathode rays and X rays.
Although Wien had a long and distinguished career, his most important work occurred in the 1890's. In the early 1890's, he began his investigations of radiation. He defined a black body, a body that appears black because it absorbs all radiation and that radiates heat.
Attempting to find a formula for the composition of the radiation of a black body, Wien studied the relationship between the intensity of different wavelengths and temperature. Using the laws of thermodynamics, he developed two laws. The first of these is known as Wien's displacement law. It states that wavelengths emitted from the black body become shorter as the temperature rises. This law was confirmed in later studies by other scientists. In 1896, Wien derived a formula that provided a graphical explanation of the energy distribution curve. This formula, known as Wien's energy distribution law, was proven to work well for short wavelengths but not long ones. The problem was finally solved in 1900, when Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck developed his theory of quantum energy.
Wien was the only child of Carl Wien and Caroline Gertz. When Wien was 2, his family moved to a small farm in Drachenstein. Until age 11, Wien was educated at home. His parents hired a private tutor, who taught him to speak French before he learned to write German. In 1875, Wien enrolled at the Rastenburg gymnasium. Wien did not pay attention to his classes, and his parents took him out of the school in 1880. He then enrolled at the Altstädtisches Gymnasium in Königsberg, and he graduated in 1882.
In 1882, Wien entered the University of Göttingen, leaving after one semester. From 1883 to 1886, he studied physics at the University of Berlin, under the supervision of German physicist and mathematician Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz. He received his doctorate in 1886, writing his dissertation on the diffraction of light when it strikes a grating. Wien then decided to return to his parent's farm, which had been badly damaged by fire. He spent the next four years helping to manage the land, continuing to study physics on his own. But when a severe drought forced the family to sell their property in 1890, Wien and his parents moved to Berlin-Westend. Wien then accepted a position as an assistant to Helmholtz at the newly created State Physical-Technical Institute in Charlotten-burg, on the outskirts of Berlin.
Wien worked as a researcher in Berlin until 1896, then taught at the Technical University in Aachen and the University of Giessen. He was named professor of physics at the University of Würzburg in 1900, in succession to Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, the discoverer of X rays. Wien traveled throughout his career, making trips to numerous countries, including Norway, Spain, Italy, England, and Greece. In 1913, he visited the United States, where he lectured at Columbia University. He was appointed professor of physics at the University of Munich in 1920 and remained there until his death. During his tenure at Munich, he oversaw the construction of a new physics institute. He served as rector of the university from 1925 to 1926.
Wien was a highly respected physicist. He was a member of the scientific societies of Berlin, Göttingen, Vienna, and Stockholm. He served as coeditor of Annalen der Physik (Annals of Physics) from 1906 until his death in 1928.