Max Wien
Max Karl Werner Wien (German: [ˈviːn]; 25
December 1866 – 22 February 1938) was a German Max Wien
physicist and the director of the Institute of Physics at Born Max Karl Werner Wien
the University of Jena.[1] He was born in Königsberg, 25 December 1866
Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), the son of the co- Königsberg, Province of
owner of the well-known Castell grain company, Otto Prussia, Kingdom of
Wien.[2] He was a cousin of Nobel laureate Wilhelm Prussia, North German
Wien. Confederation
Died 22 February 1938
Wien studied in Konigsberg, Freiburg, and Berlin (aged 71)
under Hermann von Helmholtz and August Kundt, Jena, Gau Thuringia, Nazi
receiving his PhD under Helmholtz in 1888.[1][3] In Germany
1892 he worked with Wilhelm Röntgen in Würzburg, Alma mater University of Berlin (PhD)
where in 1893 he received the habilitation, qualifying
Known for Discovering the Wien effect
him to be a professor.[1] He moved to the Technical
High School of Aachen in 1898 where he became Inventing the Wien bridge
Extraordinary Professor in 1899. In 1904 he became Relatives Wilhelm Wien (cousin)
full Professor at the Technical High School of Danzig
Scientific career
(now Gdańsk, Poland). From 1911 to 1935 he was
Fields Physics
Professor at University of Jena, in Jena, Germany,
where he died in 1938.[1] Institutions University of Jena (1911–
1935)
Wien's scientific research were in the areas of high Doctoral advisor Hermann von Helmholtz
frequency electronics, acoustics, and electrolyte
Other academic August Kundt
conductance.[1] He is known for the invention of the
advisors
Wien bridge in 1891, a type of AC measurement circuit
similar to the Wheatstone bridge which was used to
measure the impedance of capacitors and inductors.[1] From 1906 to 1909 he did research into the
efficiency of early radio transmitters, called spark gap transmitters, which used an electric spark to
generate radio waves. In existing transmitters the spark damped the oscillation in the tuned circuit,
creating highly damped waves, in which the radio energy was spread over a wide bandwidth, limiting
their range. In 1906 Wien invented a new type of spark gap, called a "quenched gap", that extinguished
the spark immediately after energy had been transferred to the tuned circuit.[1] This transmitter produced
very lightly damped waves, which had a narrower bandwidth and thus greater range, and also produced
an easy to identify musical tone in the receiver headphones. Wien "singing spark" or quenched-spark
transmitters ("Löschfunkensender")[1] were widely used until the end of the spark era around 1920. At
Jena he studied the conductance of electrolyte solutions at high fields and high frequencies, discovering
what is now called Wien effect.[1]
The Wien bridge oscillator is so named because it uses a Wien bridge as a feedback network, but it was
not invented by Wien. William Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, was the first to use a Wien
bridge as a feedback network around a vacuum tube amplifier to create an oscillator in 1939.
References
1. Bard, Allen J.; Inzelt, György; Scholz, Fritz (2012). Electrochemical Dictionary, 2nd Ed (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=4TBWg3dIyKQC&q=max+wien&pg=PA972). Springer
Science and Business Media. p. 972. ISBN 978-3642295515.
2. Wien, Max. Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen für Wissenschaft und Forschung [1]
(https://kulturstiftung.org/personen/wien-max) (in German).
3. Karl Willy Wagner, "Max Wien zum 70. Geburtstag", Naturwissenschaften, Volume 25,
Number 5, 65-67, doi:10.1007/BF01493271 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01493271) (link
to pdf) (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01493271) (in German).
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