Erwin Madelung (18 May 1881 – 1 August 1972) was a German physicist. He was born in 1881 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. His father was the surgeon

Otto Wilhelm Madelung Otto Wilhelm Madelung (May 15, 1846 – July 22, 1926) was a German surgeon who was a native of Gotha. His son, physicist Erwin Madelung (1881–1972), discovered the Madelung constant. Academic career Madelung was born in Gotha. In 1869 he re ...

. He earned a doctorate in 1905 from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, specializing in

crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric pattern ...

, and eventually became a professor. It was during this time he developed the Madelung constant, which characterizes the net

electrostatic Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest ( static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for ...

effects of all ions in a crystal lattice, and is used to determine the

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of ...

of one ion. In 1921 he succeeded

Max Born Max Born (; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a ...

as the Chair of Theoretical Physics at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, which he held until his retirement in 1949. He specialized in

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

and

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

, and it was during this time he developed the

Madelung equations The Madelung equations, or the equations of quantum hydrodynamics, are Erwin Madelung's equivalent alternative formulation of the Schrödinger equation, written in terms of hydrodynamical variables, similar to the Navier–Stokes equations of flui ...

, an alternative form of the

Schrödinger equation The Schrödinger equation is a linear partial differential equation that governs the wave function of a quantum-mechanical system. It is a key result in quantum mechanics, and its discovery was a significant landmark in the development of th ...

. He is also known for the Madelung rule, which states that

atomic orbitals In atomic theory and quantum mechanics, an atomic orbital is a function describing the location and wave-like behavior of an electron in an atom. This function can be used to calculate the probability of finding any electron of an atom in any sp ...

are filled in order of increasing

n + l

quantum numbers.

Publications

* ''Magnetisierung durch schnell verlaufende Stromvorgänge mit Rücksicht auf Marconis Wellendetektor''. Göttingen, Univ., Phil. Fak., Diss., 1905. * ''Die mathematischen Hilfsmittel des Physikers'', Springer Verlag, Berlin 1922. subsequent editions: 1925, 1936, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1964.

References

External links

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Portrait drawing
at Frankfurt University {{DEFAULTSORT:Madelung, Erwin 1881 births 1972 deaths 20th-century German physicists University of Göttingen alumni Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery People involved with the periodic table