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Arnold Sommerfeld
Times obituary
A NOTABLE PHYSICIST
Professor Arnold Sommerfeld, Ph.D., F.R.S., who formerly held the chair of theoretical physics at Munich, died there on Thursday as the result of an accident. He was 82.
Arnold Alfred Sommerfeld was born on December 5, 1868, at Königsberg and read mathematics and natural science at the university there. In 1891 he obtained his Ph.D. Four years later he started his career as a lecturer at Göttingen In 1897 he was made professor of mathematics at the mining college of Clausthal, followed by a period as professor of technical mechanics at Aachen. A discovery of Röntgen, he was appointed professor of theoretical physics and director of the institute of that branch in Munich in 1906. There, he soon became a pioneer of the new physical concepts, working on the quantum theory, on the special theory of relativity as applied to Niels Bohr's model of the atom to which, in 1915, he made an important contribution on the nature of the lines of the spectrum and elaborating the Sommerfeld fine structure constant. Later, in 1927, he elaborated on the basis of Fermi's statistics a theory of the electrons of metals, confirming the Wiedemann-Franz law of the relation of the electrical and heat conducting power of metals, as well as the Thomson and Peltier effects. Many of the world's outstanding modern physicists, including Heisenberg, were his pupils.
His prolific research, before specializing in atomic physics, had produced a theory of gyration, another on the conductive capacity of metals, and contributions to the knowledge of the mechanics of waves. From 1901 he acted as editor of the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Science. His own standard work is Atombau und Spektrallinien, which was first printed in 1919. He also published The Principle of Relativity (1915) and, with Prof. Felix Klein, The Theory of Gyration in four volumes. In the course of his career, Sommerfeld was Karl Schurz Professor at the University of Wisconsin, visiting professor at the Californian Institute of Technology, and at a number of other American universities. He refused, however, numerous offers of chairs abroad when in 1935 the N.S.D.A.P., whose advances he refused, dismissed him as "over age" and replaced him with a young party member without experience or reputation.
Sommerfeld was a Fellow of the Royal Society. A Doctor of Engineering, he held the Max Planck Medal and many other honours. After his enforced retirement, he continued his research work until late in life and contributed scientific papers to German and foreign publications.
A NOTABLE PHYSICIST
Professor Arnold Sommerfeld, Ph.D., F.R.S., who formerly held the chair of theoretical physics at Munich, died there on Thursday as the result of an accident. He was 82.
Arnold Alfred Sommerfeld was born on December 5, 1868, at Königsberg and read mathematics and natural science at the university there. In 1891 he obtained his Ph.D. Four years later he started his career as a lecturer at Göttingen In 1897 he was made professor of mathematics at the mining college of Clausthal, followed by a period as professor of technical mechanics at Aachen. A discovery of Röntgen, he was appointed professor of theoretical physics and director of the institute of that branch in Munich in 1906. There, he soon became a pioneer of the new physical concepts, working on the quantum theory, on the special theory of relativity as applied to Niels Bohr's model of the atom to which, in 1915, he made an important contribution on the nature of the lines of the spectrum and elaborating the Sommerfeld fine structure constant. Later, in 1927, he elaborated on the basis of Fermi's statistics a theory of the electrons of metals, confirming the Wiedemann-Franz law of the relation of the electrical and heat conducting power of metals, as well as the Thomson and Peltier effects. Many of the world's outstanding modern physicists, including Heisenberg, were his pupils.
His prolific research, before specializing in atomic physics, had produced a theory of gyration, another on the conductive capacity of metals, and contributions to the knowledge of the mechanics of waves. From 1901 he acted as editor of the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Science. His own standard work is Atombau und Spektrallinien, which was first printed in 1919. He also published The Principle of Relativity (1915) and, with Prof. Felix Klein, The Theory of Gyration in four volumes. In the course of his career, Sommerfeld was Karl Schurz Professor at the University of Wisconsin, visiting professor at the Californian Institute of Technology, and at a number of other American universities. He refused, however, numerous offers of chairs abroad when in 1935 the N.S.D.A.P., whose advances he refused, dismissed him as "over age" and replaced him with a young party member without experience or reputation.
Sommerfeld was a Fellow of the Royal Society. A Doctor of Engineering, he held the Max Planck Medal and many other honours. After his enforced retirement, he continued his research work until late in life and contributed scientific papers to German and foreign publications.
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