Gustav Robert Kirchhoff

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Gustav Robert Kirchhoff

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff , 1824-87, German physicist. He served as professor of physics at the universities of Breslau (1850-54), Heidelberg (1854-74), and Berlin (from 1875). He is known especially for his work with the spectroscope in association with R. W. Bunsen, with whom he discovered the elements cesium and rubidium, and for his explanation of the Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum . He also did important research in electricity (he formulated Kirchhoff's laws ) and thermodynamics.

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Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert (1824–87) German physicist. With Robert Bunsen, he developed the spectroscope, with which they discovered caesium and rubidium in 1860. He is famous for two laws that apply to multiple-loop electric circuits. Kirchhoff's laws state that (1) at any junction the sum of the currents flowing is zero, and (2) the sum of the electromotive forces (emf) around any closed path equals the sum of the products of the currents and impedances (resistances).

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

	A critical analysis of Universality and Kirchhoff's Law: a return to Stewart's Law of thermal emission.(Formula) Magazine article from: Progress in Physics; 7/1/2008
	Blackbody radiation and the carbon particle. Magazine article from: Progress in Physics; 7/1/2008
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	A critical analysis of Universality and Kirchhoff's Law: a return to Stewart's Law of thermal emission.(Formula) Magazine article from: Progress in Physics; 7/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...universality is presented. This treatment reveals that Gustav Robert Kirchhoff has not properly considered the combined effects...and on the frequency of observation. Conversely, Gustav Kirchhoff [2-4] reaches the conclusion that the emissive...
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