Max Wien
| Max Wien | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 December 1866 Königsberg, Prussia |
| Died |
22 February 1938 (aged 71) Jena, Germany |
| Citizenship | Germany |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of Jena |
Max Wien (German pronunciation: [ˈviːn]; 25 December 1866 – 22 February 1938) was a German physicist and the director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Jena. He was born in Königsberg, Prussia. He was a cousin of Nobel laureate Wilhelm Wien.
Wien studied under Helmholtz and Kundt.[1] He invented the "Löschfunkensender" (generator of slightly weakened electromagnetic oscillations) during the years 1906 to 1909 and the Wien bridge in 1891. Many articles incorrectly attribute to Wien the invention of an oscillator bearing his name, but at the time of the invention of his bridge circuit, electronic amplifiers (a prerequisite to making electronic oscillators) did not exist. 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.
Erwin Schrödinger in his autobiography "Mein Leben, Meine Weltansicht" described Wien as "moderately anti-semitic".
See also
References
- ↑ Karl Willy Wagner, "Max Wien zum 70. Geburtstag", Naturwissenschaften, Volume 25, Number 5, 65-67, doi:10.1007/BF01493271 (link to pdf) (in German).