Julius Wilhelm Gintl (November 12, 1804 – December 22, 1883) was an Austrian physicist.

Biography

Gintl was born in 1804 in Prague and attended university in his hometown. He was chair of physics at

Vienna University The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

and later at Gratz. In 1847, the Austrian government commissioned him to manage the introduction of the

electrical telegraph Electrical telegraphy is point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most wid ...

. In 1853, Gintl developed an early form of duplex electrical telegraph, which allowed two messages to be transmitted on a single wire in opposite directions. This duplex communication was an early specific case of the general practice of

multiplexing In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource� ...

. While Gintl's technology was not commercial successful, his method was improved upon by German engineer Carl Frischen and later by J. B. Stearns, who would patent a version in 1872. Edison, who was also working on the design, would further refine his method in his implementation of a

quadruplex telegraph The Quadruplex telegraph is a type of electrical telegraph which allows a total of four separate signals to be transmitted and received on a single wire at the same time (two signals in each direction). Quadruplex telegraphy thus implements a fo ...

. Gintl was a member of Vienna's Academy of Arts and Sciences by 1849. In 1863, he became a member of the Society of Arts in London.

References

Physicists from Austria-Hungary Scientists from the Austrian Empire 1804 births 1883 deaths {{physicist-stub