A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DJulius Plücker : 1801 - 1868
In 1859 whilst establishing an important principle for the future of electronics, the German mathematician and physicist Julius Plucker discovers that cathode rays (electrons) are deflected by a magnetic field.
Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist who specialized in Analytic Geometry . He presented the logical justification for the Duality Principle in geometry, and published a book about geometry entitled Analytisch-geometrische Entwicklungen (1828). He discovered Homogeneous Coordinates independently of Möbius, Bobillier, and Feuerbach, and derived Plücker's Equations. In 1847, he turned his interests to physics. He published papers on magnetism and spectroscopy and wrote Neue Geometrie des Raumes. He worked with Hittorf in investigating Vacuum Tubes
Julius Plücker was educated at Heidelberg, Berlin and Paris. He was appointed to Bonn in 1829, and became professor of mathematics at Halle in 1834, then at Bonn in 1836. He made important contributions to analytic geometry and physics. He initiated the investigation of geometrical configurations associated with line complexes. In this way of specifying coordinates a point has a linear equation, namely that of all lines through the point while a line has a pair of numbers namely the x and y coordinates of where it cuts the axes. His work on combinatorics considers Steiner type systems. He also introduced the notion of a ruled surface. In 1847 he turned to physics, accepting the chair of physics at Bonn working on magnetism, electronics and atomic physics. He anticipated Kirchhoff and Bunsen in indicating that spectral lines were characteristic for each chemical substance. In 1865 he returned to mathematics and Klein served as his assistant 1866-1888.
Julius Plücker, (b. June 16, 1801, Elberfeld, Duchy of Berg d. May 22, 1868, Bonn), German mathematician and physicist whose work suggested the far-reaching principle of duality, which states the equivalence of certain related types of theorems. He also discovered that cathode rays (electron rays produced in a vacuum) are diverted from their path by a magnetic field. This effect is a principle vital to the development of modern electronic devices, such as television. Plücker attended the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Paris. In 1829, after four years as an unsalaried lecturer, he became extraordinary professor at the University of Bonn. From his lectures came his first great work, Analytisch-geometrische Entwicklungen, 2 vol. (1828-31; "The Development of Analytic Geometry"), in which he introduced the abridged notation in analytic geometry. In 1829 Plücker proposed a revolutionary idea in analytic geometry: that the fundamental geometric element need not be the point but could be the straight line. Through this idea he developed the principle of duality. In 1834 Plücker became professor of mathematics at the University of Halle and two years later professor of mathematics at the University of Bonn. Theorie der algebraischen Curven (1839; "Theory of Algebraic Curves"), his greatest work, contains equations detailing the number of singularities (points at which there is no unique tangent line) on algebraic curves, and his System der analytischen Geometrie (1835; "System of Analytic Geometry") introduced the use of linear functions in place of the usual coordinate points. Plücker's System der Geometrie des Raumes in neuer analytischer Behandlungsweise (1846; "System of the Geometry of Space in a New Analytical Treatment") contains a more systematic and polished rendering of his earlier results. After his appointment as professor of physics at Bonn in 1847, Plücker began research on the behaviour of crystals in a magnetic field and then studied the properties of magnetic bodies, establishing results integral to knowledge of magnetism. He discovered and investigated the magnetic deflection of cathode rays and thus stimulated research in electronics and atomic physics. At first alone and later with the German physicist Johann W. Hittorf, Plücker made many important discoveries in spectroscopy. He anticipated Robert Bunsen and Gustav R. Kirchhoff, both of Germany, in announcing that spectral lines were characteristic for each chemical substance and in indicating the value of this discovery to chemical analysis. According to Hittorf, Plücker was the first who saw the three lines of the hydrogen spectrum that a few months after his death were recognized in the spectrum of the solar prominences, thus solving a mystery of modern astronomy. In 1862 he pointed out that the same element may exhibit different spectra at different temperatures. In 1865 he returned to the study of mathematics and later published his work on modern pure geometry of space, Neue Geometrie des Raumes gegründet auf die Betrachtung der geraden Linie als Raumelement (1868-69; "New Geometry of Space Founded on the Treatment of the Straight Line as Space Element").
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