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Genrih KayserGerman physicist who discovered the presence of helium in the earth's atmosphere
Date of Birth: 16.03.1853
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Heinrich Kayser
Heinrich Kayser, a German physicist, was born on March 16, 1853, in Bingen am Rhein, a small town in western Germany. He was known for his discovery of the presence of helium in the Earth's atmosphere.
Family Background
Heinrich Kayser came from a family with a strong academic background. His great-grandfather, Johann Jacob Kayser, was a peasant who became the first in the family to receive a higher education and aspired to a chair at the University of Königsberg, which was later occupied by Immanuel Kant. His grandfather, August Immanuel Kayser, was a renowned lawyer and owner of a large estate in Königsberg.
Heinrich's father, Johann Jacob Heinrich Kayser, was unable to complete his legal studies due to a serious eye illness. Instead, he managed the family estate and traveled extensively throughout Europe. His mother, Dorothea Amelia von Metz, was the daughter of a Russian officer who fled the French Revolution. Heinrich was the youngest of their five children.
Education and Career
Due to frequent relocations, Heinrich's early education was somewhat irregular. For several years, his father personally taught him Latin, Greek, history, and mathematics. He completed his schooling in Berlin in 1872.
In the spring of 1873, Heinrich Kayser began his physics studies at the newly opened University of Strassbourg. However, he had to interrupt his studies after the first semester due to strained relationships with his father and a severe bout of pleurisy. After recovering, he spent some time in Munich before returning to Strassbourg. Later, he studied at the University of Bonn, where he completed his doctorate in 1879 with a dissertation on the properties of sound waves.
Heinrich Kayser joined the faculty of the University of Bonn in 1894 and established a center for spectroscopic research in Bonn. His early work focused on the characteristics of acoustic waves. He also discovered the presence of helium in the Earth's atmosphere. Together with physicist and mathematician Carl Runge, a renowned spectroscopist, Kayser investigated the spectra of chemical elements. In 1905, he wrote a paper on the theory of electrons. The unit of measurement "kayser," associated with the wave number, was named in his honor.
Legacy
Heinrich Kayser passed away in Bonn on October 14, 1940. A few years before his death, some of his friends convinced him to write memoirs, which he diligently prepared into a manuscript of 372 pages. Unfortunately, the memoirs were never published but served as a source for a brief biography.
