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April 19 in Physics History

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birthdays & deaths

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physics Events

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April 19 in Physics History - Births – Physicists born on April 19

Gustav Theodor Fechner (19 Apr 1801 - 18 Nov 1887)

He was a German physicist and philosopher who formulated Fechner’s law that states that the intensity of a sensation increases as the logarithm of the stimulus. He was the key figure in the foundation of psychophysics. Psychophysics is a science that deals with quantitative relations between sensations and the stimuli producing them. He also proposed a mathematical expression of the theory about the difference between two stimuli. He was an animist in philosophy.

Albert Wallace Hull (19 Apr 1880 - 22 Jan 1966)

He was an American physicist who invented the magnetron and the thyratron. He independently discovered the Powder method of X-ray analysis of crystals. This method allows the study of crystalline material in a finely microcrystalline state. He also studied noise measurements in diode and triode and he took interest in metallurgy and glass science. He wrote a paper on the effect of a uniform magnetic field on the motion of electrons between coaxial cylinders.

April 19 in Physics History - Deaths – Physicists died on April 19

Warren De la Rue (15 Jan 1815 - 19 Apr 1889)

He was a British chemist, astronaut, and inventor who was elected as the fellow of the Royal Society of London and was awarded its Royal medal in 1864. He is known for his excellent work in astronomical photography. His method made nearly all modern astronomical observations. He was also a member of the royal astronomical society and also received the gold medal in 1862.

Zygmunt Florenty von Wroblewski (28 Oct 1845 - 19 Apr 1888)

He was a Polish physicist who improved the method of Cailletet and was successful in liquefying permanent gases such as nitrogen and carbon monoxide in large quantities. Hydrogen was first liquefied by him and he achieved the static liquefaction of Oxygen and air in 1883. He might have given us a hint of strange electrical properties at very low temperatures but his research was not completed because of his accidental death. He died as a result of fire when he overturned a kerosene lamp in his laboratory.

Walter Kohn (9 Mar 1923 - 19 Apr 2016)

He was an Austrian-American physicist who shared the Noble Prize in chemistry in 1998. His share of the prize was for the development of his density-function theory. This theory revolutionized material science in such a way that it has been said it has been referenced in about half of all publications in quantum chemistry that have followed. He also made contributions to the physics of semiconductors, superconductivity, catalysis and surface physics.

April 19 in Physics History - Events – Physics Events of April 19

The First Indian Satellite - Aryabhta

The first satellite of India, Aryabhata was launched from Volgograd launch station, Russia in 1975. Its mass was 360 kg and it was built during 20 months by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It was covered in solar cells except for the top and the bottom. It was designed to carry out experiments in aerodynamics and solar physics however after only 4 days in orbit, the experiments were ended because of a power failure. It orbited the Earth for nearly 17 years and then it entered the earth’s atmosphere in 1992.

The First Black & Women Astronaut

The US announced that the first Black astronaut would be Guion S. Bluford, and the first woman astronaut would be Sally K. Ride in 1982. Bluford became the first black American astronaut on 30th August 1983. Ride becomes the first American woman to orbit the earth when she flew abroad with Challenger on 18 June 1983.

The First Space Station

Salyut 1 was launched on a proton rocket by the Soviet Union in 1971. It was the first-ever Space station in the orbit of Earth having only a single main module. Its first crew members were launched in Soyuz 10 but due to a failure in the docking mechanism, they were not able to board the Space station. The second crew that arrived in Soyuz 11 remained on board for 23 days but they all killed because a pressure equalization valve reentry capsule opened prematurely. The Salyut 11 entered into the earth’s atmosphere on 11th October 1971.

April 12 in Physics History

Physics history will help you to develop a better understanding of the physics world!

birthdays & deaths

Explore all birthdays & deaths of physicists occurred on this day with their short biography!

physics Events

Know all important discoveries made by physicists & events happened on this day with complete information!

April 12 in Physics History - Births – Physicists born on April 12

Edward Walter Maunder (12 Apr 1851 - 21 Mar 1928)

He was an English astronomer who first started the British Civil Services Commission examination for the post of photographic and spectroscopic assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. He worked at the observatory for the next forty years measuring the sunspots and checking historic records. He found a lack of reports on sunspots from 1645 to 1715. Instead of questioning this, he started researching and found that there are indeed decades-long times when the sun has very few sunspots. Now we call these periods as Maunder minima.

Ferdinand von Lindemann (12 Apr 1852 - 6 Mar 1939)

He was a German mathematician who proved that π is not a solution to any algebraic equation with a rational coefficient. This explained the insoluble natural or classical Greek mathematical problem of constructing a square with the same area as a given circle using a ruler and compasses alone. He discussed Hermite’s methods that he used to prove that ‘e’ is transcendental. He extended Hermite’s results in 1882 to show that π was also transcendental.

April 12 in Physics History - Deaths – Physicists died on April 12

Charles Messier (26 Jun 1730 - 12 Apr 1817)

He was a French astronomer who first compiled a systematic catalog of “M objects” and discovered 15 comets. His catalog contained nebulae, 103-star clusters, and galaxies. He concluded the alphanumeric names for objects like M1, M2, etc.

Geoffrey F. Chew (5 Jun 1924 - 12 Apr 2019)

He was an American physicist who led the group of S-matrix theorists researching the strong interaction and the bootstrap principle. He was a graduate student of Enrico Fermi. His group calculated the interactions of bound-states without assuming that there is a point-particle field theory underneath.

Igor Tamm (8 Jul 1895 - 12 Apr 1971)

He was a Soviet physicist who shared the Noble Prize with Pavel A  Cherenkov, and Ilya M. Frank for physics for his works in explaining Cherenkov radiation. He developed the theoretical interpretation of the Cherenkov effect which states that the radiation of electrons moves faster than the speed of light through matter. He also developed a method for studying the interaction of nuclear particles and contributed towards the methods for the control of thermonuclear reactions.

April 12 in Physics History - Events – Physics Events of April 12

First Man To Orbit The Earth

On this day, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961. The control of the spacecraft was locked to prevent him from taking control of the ship. It had a radio, television, and life-supporting equipment. He ejected and made a planned descent landing with his parachute but the Soviet Union denied this to save its reputation. After 7 years, he died in a plane crash.

The First Yo-Yo Toy In Space

The first yo-yo toy was taken into space in the Space Shuttle Discovery mission 51-D in 1985. With this yellow plastic Duncan Imperial yo-yo, other toys were exhibited during a time in orbit. Astronauts did the tricks with toys but the yo-yo sleeper trick couldn’t work without normal gravity. While spinning, the gyroscope showed exceptional stability. The flywheel slowed without normal gravity.

Space Shuttle Columbia Was Launched

Columbia, the American Space Shuttle was launched into space in 1981. John W. Young was the mission commander.