AKA Johann Wilhelm Hittorf

Born: 27-Mar-1824
Birthplace: Bonn, Germany
Died: 28-Nov-1914
Location of death: Münster, Germany
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Central Cemetery, Münster, Germany

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Physicist

Nationality: Germany
Executive summary: Fluorescence in vacuum tubes

German physicist Johann Wilhelm Hittorf studied under Julius Plücker, and became the first scientist to calculate the electric capacity of charged atoms and molecules (ions). He noted that in vacuum tubes, energy rays extend from a negative electrode, making flickers of light as the rays struck the tubes' glass walls. He improved the method of creating a vacuum inside tubes, and his experiments showed that these rays -- later termed "cathode rays" by Eugen Goldstein -- could escape if tiny cracks formed in the tube's walls, and behave differently under the effects of magnetism. When his works were translated into English, Hittorf was sometimes cited as John William Hittorf.

Wife: Helene Hittorf (b. 1825, d. 1910)

    Professor: Physics, University of Münster
    Professor: Chemistry, University of Münster

    Hughes Medal 1903
    Risk Factors: Obesity

Author of books:
On the Conduction of Electricity in Gases (1888)

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