The "chemical rays" found by him were afterwards called ultraviolet radiation. [7] [8] [9] Some of Ritter's researches were acknowledged as important scientific contributions, but he also claimed the discovery of many phenomena that were not confirmed by other researchers. For instance: he reported that the Earth had electric poles that could be detected by the motion of a bimetallic needle; and he claimed that he could produce the electrolysis of water using a series of magnets, instead of Volta's piles. [3] Ritter had no regular income and never became a university professor, although in 1804 he was elected a member of the Bavarian Academy of Science (in Munich). He married in 1804 and had four children, [1] but he was unable to provide the needs of his family. Plagued by financial difficulties and suffering from weak health (perhaps aggravated by his electrical self-experimentation), [ citation needed] he died young in 1810, as a poor man. See also Timeline of hydrogen technologies Timeline of particle discoveries References ^ a b c Büttner, Stefan (2003), "Ritter, Johann Wilhelm", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 21, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp.
What we do. Every page goes through several hundred of perfecting techniques; in live mode. Quite the same Wikipedia. Just better. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Johann Wilhelm Ritter (16 December 1776 – 23 January 1810) [1] was a German chemist, physicist and philosopher. He was born in Samitz (Zamienice) near Haynau (Chojnów) in Silesia (then part of Prussia, since 1945 in Poland), and died in Munich. Life and work Johann Wilhelm Ritter's first involvement with science began when he was 14 years old. He became an apprentice to an apothecary in Liegnitz (Legnica), and acquired a deep interest in chemistry. He began medicine studies at the University of Jena in 1796. A self-taught scientist, he made many experimental researches on chemistry, electricity and other fields. [1] Ritter belonged to the German Romantic movement. [2] He was personally acquainted with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Johann Gottfried Herder and Clemens Brentano. He was strongly influenced by Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, who was the main philosopher of the Naturphilosophie movement.
Thus dismissed by most of his scientific peers, facing severe financial difficulties and family illnesses, Ritter died an embittered man a few weeks after his thirty-third birthday. It took over a century before his scientific work was given due credit.
In 1802-1803 he built the first dry cell battery and accumulator. In 1801 Ritter discovered ultraviolet radiation by chemical means. This foray into spectroscopy was motivated by the discovery of infrared radiation by William Herschel in 1800, coupled to his general belief in electrical polarity pervading Nature: invisible radiation beyond the visible red simply had to be paired to invisible radiation beyond the violet, a speculation in line with the Naturphilosophie he espoused when engaging in philosophical theorizing. Ritter had a difficult writing style, a marked tendency to speculate to excess, and procrastinated heavily when it came to publishing detailed accounts of his investigations and discoveries. For these reasons, many of his findings went unnoticed, only to be soon independently rediscovered by other scientists. In the last years of his life, his scientific credibility was also damaged by his interest in occult phenomena, and more importantly by the inability of other scientists to reproduce his experiments in this area.
Once again in England, Rutherford developed a center dedicated to radiation studies and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his work in that field. In 1911, however, Rutherford completed what would be his most lasting contribution to science. Based on studies of alpha particles passing through thin plates of mica and gold, Rutherford came to the conclusion that the intense electric field required to cause the large deflections that were occurring could be explained only if all the positive charge in the atom were concentrated on a very small central nucleus. He further postulated that the positive charge on the nucleus must be balanced by an equal charge on all the electrons distributed around the nucleus. Rutherford's atomic model paved the way for the modern understanding of the atom. It was also the foundation of the important developments regarding the structure of atoms made by Niels Bohr, who was once his protégé. The Rutherford experiment. This classic scattering experiment, which examined the scattering of alpha particles (helium nuclei containing two positive charges) by a thin foil made of gold metal, was conducted in 1911 by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden at the suggestion of Ernest Rutherford.
As a result, Ritter confirmed the common belief that violet light was more effective than red (in decomposing silver nitrate) and, he also demonstrated that the fastest rate of decomposition occurred with radiation that could not be seen but that existed in a region beyond the violet. Ritter initially referred to the new type of radiation as chemical rays, but the title of ultraviolet radiation eventually became the preferred term. Despite his significant scientific achievements and his acceptance into the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Ritter was not well received by his contemporaries. His writing was considered oblique and confusing, and he often delayed explaining his experiments in detail. Some believed Ritter made claims that he could not support and deemed him an unreliable source of information. His interest and studies of occult phenomena further damaged his reputation as a serious scientist. Jaded by his lack of credit and plagued by financial difficulties, Ritter suffered a premature death at the age of thirty-three and did not receive proper recognition for his scientific exploits until more than a century later.
Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776-1810) Ritter became born in Samitz, Silesia (now Poland) and started his occupation as an apothecary. He went to the college of Jena in 1796 to pursue his pastimes in technological know-how. It became at Jena that he experimented with silver chloride. besides the undeniable fact that it became familiar that AgCl decomposed in gentle, Ritter discovered that this technique became maximum effective in the presence of "invisible" radiation, previous the violet end of the spectrum. This radiation grew to become familiar as ultraviolet radiation.
( add an event) history Common Knowledge You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data. For more help see the Common Knowledge help page. Canonical name Legal name Other names Date of birth Date of death Burial location Gender Nationality Country (for map) Birthplace Place of death Cause of death Places of residence Education Occupations Relationships Organizations Awards and honors Agents Short biography Disambiguation notice Is this you? Become a LibraryThing Author. Links No links Member ratings Average: No ratings. Improve this author Combine/separate works Author division Johann Wilhelm Ritter is currently considered a "single author. " If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. Includes Johann Wilhelm Ritter is composed of 1 name. Combine with… About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 154, 026, 146 books! | Top bar: Always visible Copyright LibraryThing and/or members of LibraryThing, authors, publishers, libraries, cover designers, Amazon, Bol, Bruna, etc.