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Sir Franz Arthur Friedrich Schuster (12 September 1851 – 14 October 1934) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
-born British
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 ...
known for his work in
spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter ...
,
electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with the potential difference as an out ...
,
optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...
, X-radiography and the application of
harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with the representation of functions or signals as the superposition of basic waves, and the study of and generalization of the notions of Fourier series and Fourier transforms (i.e. an ex ...
to
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...
. Schuster's integral is named after him. He contributed to making the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...
a centre for the study of physics.


Early years

Arthur Schuster was born in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, Germany the son of Francis Joseph Schuster, a cotton merchant and banker, and his wife Marie Pfeiffer. Schuster's parents were married in 1849, converted from Judaism to Christianity, and brought up their children in that faith. In 1869, his father moved to Manchester where the family textile business was based. Arthur, who had been to school in Frankfurt and was studying in
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
, joined his parents in 1870 and he and the other children became British citizens in 1875. Edgar Schuster (1897–1969) was his nephew. From his childhood, Schuster had been interested in science and after working for a year (1870/71) for the family firm of Schuster Brothers in Manchester, he persuaded his father to let him study at Owens College. He studied mathematics under Thomas Barker and physics under Balfour Stewart, and began research with Henry Roscoe on the spectra of hydrogen and nitrogen. He spent a year with Gustav Kirchhoff at the
University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
, and having gained his PhD, returned to Owens as an unpaid demonstrator in physics. Schuster later used his family's wealth to buy material and equipment and to endow readerships in mathematical physics at Manchester and meteorology at the
University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. He also contributed to the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
and the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research. After a further period of study in Germany with
Wilhelm Eduard Weber Wilhelm Eduard Weber (; ; 24 October 1804 – 23 June 1891) was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph. Biography of Wilhelm Early years Weber was born in Schlossstrasse i ...
and
Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Associat ...
, he returned to England, where his knowledge of spectrum analysis led to him being appointed to lead an expedition to Siam, to photograph the coronal spectrum during the total solar eclipse of 6 April 1875. This was an important appointment for such a junior scientist. On the way, he wrote a letter dated 21 February 1875, to ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'' describing his observation of the "green flash" phenomenon.


Career and later life

On his return to Manchester in 1875, he began research on electricity and then went on to spend five years at the
Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...
of the University of Cambridge. His status there was quite unofficial; he was neither a student nor a fellow. He worked with
James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...
and with Rayleigh. In 1881, he was appointed to the
Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics The Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics is an endowed professorial position in the Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England. The endowment came from the will of the celebrated locomotive designer and founder of locomotive builde ...
at Owens, by now one of the colleges of the new Victoria University. He succeeded his teacher Balfour Stewart as professor of physics in 1888. This appointment gave him the opportunity to establish a large, active teaching and research department. In 1900 a new laboratory, for which he had fought and which he had designed, was officially opened. It was the fourth largest in the world. The laboratory quickly became a serious rival to the Cavendish; see Manchester Science Hall of Fame. Much of this later fame was associated with
Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...
who succeeded Schuster as Langworthy Professor in 1907. Schuster resigned from the chair, partly for health reasons and partly to promote the cause of international science. He ensured that Rutherford would succeed him. Schuster is credited with coining the concept of
antimatter In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioac ...
in two letters to ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'' in 1898. He hypothesized antiatoms, and whole antimatter solar systems, which would yield energy if the atoms combined with atoms of normal matter. His hypothesis was given a mathematical foundation by the work of
Paul Dirac Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Univer ...
in 1928, which predicted antiparticles and later led to their discovery. Schuster is perhaps most widely remembered for his periodogram analysis, a technique which was long the main practical tool for identifying statistically important frequencies present in a time series of observations. He first used this form of harmonic analysis in 1897 to disprove C. G. Knott's claim of periodicity in earthquake occurrences. He went on to apply the technique to analysing
sunspot Sunspots are phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as temporary spots that are darker than the surrounding areas. They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic flux that inhibit convection. S ...
activity. This was an old interest. In 1875 Stewart's friend and Roscoe's cousin, the economist Jevons, reported, "Mr. A Schuster of Owens College has ingeniously pointed out that the periods of good vintage in Western Europe have occurred at intervals somewhat approximating to eleven years, the average length of the principal sun-spot cycle." Schuster is credited by Chandrasekhar to have given a fresh start to the
radiative transfer Radiative transfer is the physical phenomenon of energy transfer in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The propagation of radiation through a medium is affected by absorption, emission, and scattering processes. The equation of radiative trans ...
problem. Schuster formulated in 1905 a problem in radiative transfer in an attempt to explain the appearance of absorption and emission lines in stellar spectra. This was the first use of the two-stream approximation that underpins the treatment of radiative transfer in virtually all
weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
and
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
models. In 1912 he bought Yeldall Manor at Hare Hatch near Wargrave in
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...
. Following the outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
in 1914, the Schuster family was subjected to anti-German prejudice in the press and, in Arthur's case, in some quarters of the Royal Society. His brother Sir Felix Schuster had to issue a statement pointing out the family's loyalty to Britain and that they all had sons serving in the British army. On the day Arthur gave his presidential address to the 1915 British Association meeting, he learned that his son had been wounded. Schuster was regarded by his contemporaries as a mathematical physicist of exceptional ability but also as a capable administrator and teacher, and an advocate for the role of science in education and industry. He died in Hare Hatch on 14 October 1934. He is buried in
Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...
in outer London.


Family

In 1887 he married Caroline Loveday.


Honours and awards

Schuster was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1879, and
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...
in the
1920 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1920 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 1 January 1920 and 30 March 1920 (referred to as the 1920 civil ...
. Other honours include doctorates from the universities of
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...
(1908), Geneva (1909), St Andrews (1911), and Oxford (1917) and the award of the
Royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...
, Rumford and Copley medals of the Royal Society (1893, 1926 and 1931). ; LLD, Calcutta, 1876; Schuster served as secretary of the Royal Society and was elected vice-president (1919–20) and foreign secretary (1920–24). He also served as secretary of the International Research Council (1919–28) and on the management committees for the Meteorological Office (1905–32) and National Physical Laboratory (1899–1902, 1920–25). He was knighted by King
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...
in 1920. The University of Manchester's Schuster Laboratory, home to the School of Physics and Astronomy is named after him.


Publications

* * ''The Progress of Physics'' (1910) Four lectures delivered to the
University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every yea ...
during March 1908, which give cautious provisional approval of
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...
's
Special Relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The law ...
and
Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
's initial ideas about Quanta. *
An introduction to the theory of optics
' (1904) There are two subsequent editions to this book, and Schuster is the author. Edition two was published in 1909 and edition three appears to have two publication dates of 1924, and 1928.


Gallery

Bullet in brain by Arthur Schuster.jpg, A bullet in the base of a brain, radiograph by Arthur Schuster, c. 1895 Foot_with_needle_by_Arthur_Schuster.jpg, Radiograph of a pantomime artist's foot, revealing a needle by one of the toes, c. 1895 Frog by Arthur Schuster.jpg, A frog with a broken leg that has healed, shown at Manchester on 3 March 1896 Hands by Arthur Schuster.jpg, Radiograph of hands by Arthur Schuster


See also

* Blackett effect *
Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, or diffuse reflection spectroscopy, is a subset of absorption spectroscopy. It is sometimes called remission spectroscopy. Remission is the reflection or back-scattering of light by a material, while transmissio ...
*
Electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have n ...
* Electron rest mass * Representative layer theory * Sharp series *
Space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the time varying conditions within the Solar System, including the solar wind, emphasizing the space surrounding the Earth, including conditions in the ...


References


Further reading

* Beginning in 1871 Schuster contributed many articles to the Royal Society journals. These articles are available online at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
and at Gallica. * Arthur Schuster ''Biographical Fragments'' London; Macmillan (1932). – An attractive collection of reminiscences about Schuster's education and his expeditions with recollections of the scientists he knew. *


External links

*
Arthur Schuster Papers
at
John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...
, Manchester. *Arthur Schuster, "On Lunar and Solar Periodicities of Earthquakes "
''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London'', Vol. 61 (1897)
pp. 455–465 – Schuster's first paper on the use of the technique he later called the periodogram * Arthur Schuster, "On the Periodicities of Sunspots"
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A'', Vol. 206. (1906)
pp. 69–100. – Schuster's later paper on sunspots * Schuster'
Royal Society citation
signed by Maxwell, Joule, and others
Obituary Notices : Fellows:- Schuster, Sir Arthur, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 95, p.326
* There is a photograph of Schuster at th
Science and Society Picture Library
and many more (as well as the X ray photographs he took) a
Wellcome Images
* The story of Schuster and the medical use of X-rays is told a
Sir Arthur Schuster A pioneer in the use of X-Rays
* The position of Schuster at the Cavendish is described i
Cavendish Laboratory: the First Ten Years
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Arthur 1851 births 1934 deaths German emigrants to the United Kingdom Scientists from Frankfurt British physicists British statisticians Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Copley Medal 19th-century British mathematicians Academics of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Heidelberg University alumni Royal Medal winners Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Presidents of the Physical Society Presidents of the British Science Association Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society People from Wargrave