Heinrich Kayser | |
---|---|
Born | Heinrich Gustav Johannes Kayser 16 March 1853 |
Died | 14 October 1940 | (aged 87)
Citizenship | German |
Alma mater | Sophie Gymnasium (Berlin) University of Strasbourg University of Berlin |
Known for | Helium in the Earth's atmosphere, spectra, kayser unit |
Awards | ForMemRS[1] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physicist, Spectroscopy |
Institutions | Technische Hochschule, Hannover University of Bonn |
Doctoral advisor | Wilhelm Röntgen |
Heinrich Gustav Johannes Kayser ForMemRS[1] (German: [ˈkaɪzɐ]; 16 March 1853 – 14 October 1940) was a German physicist and spectroscopist.[2]
Kayser was born at Bingen am Rhein. Kayser's early work was concerned with the characteristics of acoustic waves.[3] He discovered the occurrence of helium in the Earth's atmosphere in 1868 during a solar eclipse when he detected a new spectral line in the solar spectrum. In 1881, Kayser coined the word “adsorption”. Together with Carl Runge, he examined the spectra of chemical elements.[4][5][6] In 1905, he wrote a paper on electron theory.[7]
The kayser unit, associated with wavenumber, of the CGS system was named after him. He died at Bonn in 1940.