Adolf Wüllner (13 June 1835, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

– 6 October 1908, in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

) was a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He studied physics at the universities of

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, qualifying as a lecturer at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

in 1858. In 1862 he became director of the vocational school in Aachen, and three years later taught classes in physics at the

Poppelsdorf Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This m ...

agricultural academy. In 1867 he was named an associate professor at the University of Bonn, and from 1869 onward, was a professor of physics at the Technical University of Aachen. In 1883–86 he served as academic rector.MKL1888:Wüllner
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon He is remembered for his work on the

specific heat In thermodynamics, the specific heat capacity (symbol ) of a substance is the amount of heat that must be added to one unit of mass of the substance in order to cause an increase of one unit in temperature. It is also referred to as massic heat ...

of liquids and gases, vapor tension, refractive indexes and

emission spectra The emission spectrum of a chemical element or chemical compound is the spectrum of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation emitted due to electrons making a transition from a high energy state to a lower energy state. The photon energy of the ...

Published works

He was the author of a successful textbook on

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

that was published over several editions: * ''Lehrbuch der Experimentalphysik'' (2 volumes 1862–65; 5th edition, 4 volumes 1907): ** Vol. 1: ''Allgemeine Physik und Akustik'' – General physics and acoustics. ** Vol. 2: ''Die Lehre von der Wärme'' – On heat. ** Vol. 3: ''Die Lehre vom Magnetismus und von der Elektricität'' – On magnetism and electricity. ** Vol, 4: ''Die Lehre von der Strahlung'' – On radiation. Other noted works of his include: * ''Ueber den Einfluss des Procentgehaltes auf die Spannkraft der Dämpfe aus wässerigen Salzlösungen'' (inaugural dissertation, 1856). * ''Die Absorption des Lichtes in isotropen Mitteln'', 1862 – Absorption of light in

isotropic In physics and geometry, isotropy () is uniformity in all orientations. Precise definitions depend on the subject area. Exceptions, or inequalities, are frequently indicated by the prefix ' or ', hence '' anisotropy''. ''Anisotropy'' is also ...

agents. * ''Einleitung in die Dioptrik des Auges'', 1866 – Introduction to the

dioptrics Dioptrics is the branch of optics dealing with refraction, especially by lenses. In contrast, the branch dealing with mirrors is known as '' catoptrics''. Telescopes that create their image with an objective that is a convex lens ( refractors) a ...

of the eye. * ''Die Entwicklung der Grundanschauungen in der Physik im Laufe unseres Jahrhunderts'', 1887 – The development of the fundamental principles in physics during the course of our century. He was also the author of many scientific papers in the journal ''

Annalen der Physik und Chemie ''Annalen der Physik'' (English: ''Annals of Physics'') is one of the oldest scientific journals on physics; it has been published since 1799. The journal publishes original, peer-reviewed papers on experimental, theoretical, applied, and mathem ...

''.Adolf Wüllner
de.Wikisource (bibliography)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wullner, Adolf 1835 births 1908 deaths Scientists from Düsseldorf Academic staff of the University of Bonn Academic staff of RWTH Aachen University 19th-century German physicists University of Bonn alumni Scientists from North Rhine-Westphalia