__NOTOC__ Richard Martin Gans (7 March 1880 – 27 June 1954), German of Jewish origin, born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, was the physicist who founded the Physics Institute of the National University of La Plata,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. He was its Director in two different periods. During the first one, starting in 1911, he continued the work started by Emil Bose raising the research level of the institute to international renown. In 1914 he founded the publication of a scientific journal: ''Contribución al estudio de las ciencias fisicomatemáticas,'' with two series: ''matematicofísica'' and ''técnica.'' His second period in La Plata was from the late 1940s through the early 1950s, when he played an important role as member of one of the commissions which reviewed Ronald Richter's claims related to the Huemul Project. After leaving La Plata in 1951 he taught theoretical and advanced physics at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

Gans theory Gans theory or Mie-Gans theory is the extension of Mie theory for the case of spheroidal particles. It gives the scattering characteristics of both Oblate spheroid, oblate and prolate spheroidal particles much smaller than the excitation wavelength. ...

is named after Richard Gans. This theory gives the solutions to the Maxwell equations for prolate and oblate spheroidal particles. It is an extension of

Mie theory In electromagnetism, the Mie solution to Maxwell's equations (also known as the Lorenz–Mie solution, the Lorenz–Mie–Debye solution or Mie scattering) describes the scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave by a homogeneous sphere. The sol ...

and thus sometimes called Mie-Gans theory. He first published these equations describing the scattering of elongated particles in 1912 for gold particles. In 1915, the solution for silver particles was published.Gans, R. Ann. Phys. 1915, 352, 270 Gans also rederived

Lord Rayleigh John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh ( ; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919), was an English physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904 "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery ...

scattering approximation for optically soft spheres, which is now known as Rayleigh–Gans approximation. His doctoral students include Daniele Amati and Alberto Sirlin.

Studies

Gans graduated in 1901, summa cum laude, with the title of Dr.Phil.Nat. at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

. His doctoral advisor was

Karl Ferdinand Braun Karl Ferdinand Braun (; ; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio with his 2 circuit system, which made long range radio transmiss ...

Research and teaching

Academic timeline

* 1901–02

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 ...

* 1903–11

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

* 1911–12

* 1912–25 Universidad de La Plata * 1925–35

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

– Interrupted: 3rd Reich, World War II, postwar – * 1947–51 Universidad de La Plata * 1951–53 Universidad de Buenos Aires

Publications

Gans published extensively in ''Annalen der Physik'

References

Santos Mayo Letter in Physics Today (2004)

* Ignacio Klich, Klich, Ignacio. ''Richard Gans, Guido Beck and the Role of German Speaking Jewish Immigrants in the Early Days of Argentina's Nuclear Project.'' Ibero-Amerikanisches Archiv 21:1–2 (1995):127–67 – F1401.I24 * Gaviola, Enrique (1954). ''Richard Gans (1880–1954).'' Ciencia e Investigación, Buenos Aires. Vol. 10 (8), p. 384. * Swinne, Edgar.'' Richard Gans: Hochschullehrer in Deutschland und Argentinien.''Berliner Beiträge Zur Geschitchte Der Naturwissenschaften Und Der Technik (BBGNT): 14 ERST Verlag Berlin 1992. . Published in translation to Spanish as: ''Richard Gans Profesor Universitario en Alemania y Argentina.'' Version online a

Published by the Physics Museum of the University of La Plata.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gans, Richard 1880 births 1954 deaths Scientists from Hamburg 19th-century German Jews Jewish scientists 20th-century German physicists German emigrants to Argentina 20th-century Argentine physicists Jewish German physicists Academic staff of the University of Buenos Aires