Ferdinand Reich (19 February 1799 – 27 April 1882) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

who co-discovered

indium Indium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol In and atomic number 49. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal and one of the softest elements. Chemically, indium is similar to gallium and thallium, and its properties are la ...

in 1863 with Hieronymous Theodor Richter. Reich was born in

Bernburg Bernburg (Saale) () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the Anhalt-Bernburg princes is known for its Renaissance castle. Geography The town centre is situated in the fertile Magdeb ...

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subd ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

and died in

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

. He was color blind, or could only see in whites and blacks, and that is why Theodor Richter became his science partner. Richter would examine the colors produced in reactions that they studied. Reich and Richter ended up isolating the indium, creating a small supply, although it was later found in more regions. They isolated the indium at the

Freiberg University of Mining and Technology The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (abbreviation: TU Bergakademie Freiberg, TUBAF) is a public Institute of technology, university of technology with 3,471 students in the city of Freiberg, Saxony, Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. The u ...

in Germany. In 1803, Laplace and Gauss both derived that, if a heavy object is dropped from a height

h

at latitude

\Phi

, and the earth rotates from west to east with angular velocity

\Omega

, then the object would be deflected to the east by a distance of

d=2 / 3 \Omega \cos (\Phi) \sqrt

. In 1831, Reich set out to test this prediction by actually dropping objects in a mine pit ( Drei-Brüder-Schacht, with latitude 50° 53′ 12.5″ N) 158.5 m deep, in

Freiberg, Saxony Freiberg () is a college town, university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the ...

, for 106 times. The average deflection is 2.84 cm to the east and 0.44 cm to the south. The eastward deflection is almost exactly equal to the theoretical value of 2.75 cm, but the southward deflection remains unexplained to this day. The experiment is published in * ''Fallversuche über die Umdrehung der Erde angestellt auf hohe Obergamtliche Anordnung in dem Dreibrüderschacht bei Freiberg''
Digitized
(published in 1832)

References

Further reading