Josef Lense (28 October 1890 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

– 28 December 1985 in

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 ...

) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 ...

. In 1914 Lense obtained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

under

Samuel Oppenheim Samuel Oppenheim (19 November 1857 in Braunsberg – 15 August 1928 in Vienna) was an Austrian astronomer. In 1875, Oppenheim began to study mathematics, physics and astronomy in Vienna. He took his Staatsexamen in 1880. From 1881–1887, he wo ...

. From 1927-28 he was

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

ordinarius and from 1928–1946 Professor extraordinarius for applied mathematics at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

. From 1946 until 1961 he was director of the mathematical institute of the same university. Lense, together with

Hans Thirring Hans Thirring (23 March 1888 – 22 March 1976) was an Austrian theoretical physicist, professor, and father of the physicist Walter Thirring. He won the Haitinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1920. Together with the mathematic ...

, is known as one of the two discoverers of the Lense-Thirring effect.

Publications

*Lense, J. and Thirring, H. Über den Einfluss der Eigenrotation der Zentralkörper auf die Bewegung der Planeten und Monde nach der Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie. ''Physikalische Zeitschrift'' 19 156-63 (1918) n the Influence of the Proper Rotation of Central Bodies on the Motions of Planets and Moons According to Einstein's Theory of Gravitation* ''Vorlesungen über höhere Mathematik''. Leibniz-Verlag 1948 und weitere Auflagen. * ''Vom Wesen der Mathematik und ihren Grundlagen''. Leibniz-Verlag 1949. * ''Kugelfunktionen''. Geest und Portig 1954. * ''Reihenentwicklungen in der mathematischen Physik''. Verlag de Gruyter 1947, weitere Auflage 1953. * ''Analytische projektive Geometrie''. 1965. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lense, Josef Austrian relativity theorists Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich 1890 births 1985 deaths