Sir Franz Arthur Friedrich Schuster (12 September 1851 – 14 October 1934) was a German-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 electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Spectro ...
,
electrochemistry
Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between Electric potential, electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve Electron, electrons moving via an electronic ...
,
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...
,
X-radiography and the application of
harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with investigating the connections between a function and its representation in frequency. The frequency representation is found by using the Fourier transform for functions on unbounded do ...
to physics.
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 of Manchester is c ...
a centre for the study of physics.
Early years
Arthur Schuster was born in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, 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 ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
, joined his parents in 1870 and he and the other children became British citizens in 1875.
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 was elected to membership of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on 18 November 1873. He spent a year with
Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (; 12 March 1824 – 17 October 1887) was a German chemist, mathematician, physicist, and spectroscopist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy and the emission of black-body ...
at the
University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
, 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
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. 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 and
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (; ; 31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894; "von" since 1883) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The ...
, 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 is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'' 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 physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism an ...
and with
Rayleigh Rayleigh may refer to:
Science
*Rayleigh scattering
*Rayleigh–Jeans law
*Rayleigh waves
*Rayleigh (unit), a unit of photon flux named after the 4th Baron Rayleigh
*Rayl, rayl or Rayleigh, two units of specific acoustic impedance and characte ...
. In 1881, he was appointed to the
Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics 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 was a pioneering researcher in both Atomic physics, atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nu ...
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 subatomic particle, particles in "ordinary" matter, and can be thought of as matter with reversed charge and parity, or go ...
in two letters to ''
Nature
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'' 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 mathematician and Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for bot ...
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 temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...
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 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 cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...
and
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, 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 meteoro ...
models.
In 1912 he bought Yeldall Manor at
Hare Hatch near
Wargrave in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
.
In 1913, Schuster was elected to both the United States
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
and the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
.
Following the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
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 in outer London.
Family
In 1887 he married Caroline Loveday.
Edgar Schuster (1897–1969), the first Galton Fellow of Eugenics at
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
was his nephew.
Honours and awards
Schuster was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1879,
[ and knighted in the 1920 New Year Honours. Other honours include doctorates from the universities of ]Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
(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 or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Ill ...
, 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 Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
George w ...
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 (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...
during March 1908, which give cautious provisional approval of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
's Special Relativity
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between Spacetime, space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, Annus Mirabilis papers#Special relativity,
"On the Ele ...
and Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (; ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quantum, quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial con ...
'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
* Electron
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
* Electron rest mass
* Representative layer theory
* Sharp series
* Space weather
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 of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...
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
Emigrants from the Kingdom of Prussia 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
Scientists of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)
International members of the American Philosophical Society