Hans Geiger
Johannes Wilhelm "Hans" Geiger (/ˈɡaɪɡər/; German:
[ˈɡaɪɡɐ]; 30 September 1882 – 24 September 1945) Hans Geiger
was a German physicist. He is best known as the co-
inventor of the detector component of the Geiger
counter and for the Geiger–Marsden experiment which
discovered the atomic nucleus. He also carried the
Bothe–Geiger coincidence experiment that confirmed
the conservation of energy in light-particle
interactions.
He was the brother of meteorologist and climatologist
Rudolf Geiger.
Biography
Geiger was born at Neustadt an der Haardt, Germany.
He was one of five children born to the Indologist Hans Wilhelm Geiger (1928)
Wilhelm Ludwig Geiger, who was a professor at the Born 30 September 1882
University of Erlangen. In 1902, Geiger started Neustadt an der Haardt,
studying physics and mathematics at the University of Palatinate, German Empire
Erlangen and was awarded a doctorate in 1906.[1] His Died 24 September 1945 (aged 62)
thesis was on electrical discharges through gases.[2] He Potsdam, Germany
received a fellowship to the University of Manchester
Nationality German
and worked as an assistant to Arthur Schuster. In 1907,
after Schuster's retirement, Geiger began to work with Known for Geiger counter
his successor, Ernest Rutherford, and in 1908, along Geiger–Marsden experiment
with Ernest Marsden, conducted the famous Geiger– Geiger–Müller tube
Marsden experiment (also known as the "gold foil Geiger–Nuttall law
experiment"). This process allowed them to count
Bothe–Geiger coincidence
alpha particles[3][4][5][2] and led Rutherford to start
experiment
thinking about the structure of the atom.
Coincidence method
In 1911 Geiger and John Mitchell Nuttall discovered Awards Hughes Medal (1929)
the Geiger–Nuttall law (or rule) and performed
Duddell Medal and Prize (1937)
experiments that led to Rutherford's atomic model.[6]
Scientific career
In 1912, Geiger was named head of radiation research
Fields Physics and sciences
at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (Imperial
Institutions University of Erlangen
Physical Technical Institute – PTR) in Charlottenburg.
There he worked with Walter Bothe (winner of the University of Manchester
1954 Nobel Prize in Physics) and James Chadwick (winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics).[7] Work
was interrupted when Geiger served in the German military during World War I as an artillery officer
from 1914 to 1918.
In 1924, Geiger and Bothe carried the Bothe–Geiger coincidence experiment that confirmed the Compton
effect which helped earn Arthur Compton the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics.[2] Bothe would also receive
the Nobel Prize in Physics for their experiment in 1954, after Geiger's death.[8]
In 1925, he began a teaching position at the University of Kiel where, in 1928 Geiger and his student
Walther Müller created an improved version of the Geiger tube, the Geiger–Müller tube. This new device
not only detected alpha particles, but beta and gamma particles as well, and is the basis for the Geiger
counter.[9][10]
In 1929 Geiger was named professor of physics and director of research at the University of Tübingen
where he made his first observations of a cosmic ray shower. In 1936 he took a position with Technische
Universität Berlin where he continued to research cosmic rays, nuclear fission, and artificial radiation
until his death in 1945.[2]
Beginning in 1939, after the discovery of atomic fission, Geiger was a member of the Uranium Club, the
German investigation of nuclear weapons during World War II. The group splintered in 1942 after its
members came to believe (incorrectly, as it would later transpire) that nuclear weapons would not play a
significant role in ending the war.[7]
Although Geiger signed a petition against the Nazi government's interference with universities, he
provided no support to colleague Hans Bethe (winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics) when he was
fired for being Jewish.[11][12]
Geiger endured the Battle of Berlin and subsequent Soviet occupation in April/May 1945. A couple of
months later he moved to Potsdam, dying there on 24 September 1945.
See also
Geiger (crater)
References
1. Krebs, AT (July 1956). "Hans Geiger: Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of His Doctoral
Thesis, 23 July 1906". Science. 124 (3213): 166. Bibcode:1956Sci...124..166K (https://ui.ad
sabs.harvard.edu/abs/1956Sci...124..166K). doi:10.1126/science.124.3213.166 (https://doi.
org/10.1126%2Fscience.124.3213.166). PMID 17843412 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
17843412).
2. Shampo, M. A.; Kyle, R. A.; Steensma, D. P. (2011). "Hans Geiger—German Physicist and
the Geiger Counter" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228631). Mayo Clinic
Proceedings. 86 (12): e54. doi:10.4065/mcp.2011.0638 (https://doi.org/10.4065%2Fmcp.20
11.0638). PMC 3228631 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228631).
PMID 22196280 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22196280).
3. Rutherford E.; Geiger H. (1908). "An electrical method of counting the number of α particles
from radioactive substances" (https://books.google.com/books?id=jaezAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA14
1). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A. 81 (546): 141–161.
Bibcode:1908RSPSA..81..141R (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1908RSPSA..81..141R).
doi:10.1098/rspa.1908.0065 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspa.1908.0065). ISSN 1364-5021
(https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1364-5021).
4. Geiger H. (1913). "Über eine einfache Methode zur Zählung von α- und β-Strahlen (On a
simple method for counting α- and β-rays)". Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen
Gesellschaft. 15: 534–539.
5. Campbell John (1999). Rutherford Scientist Supreme, AAS Publications.
6. H. Geiger and J.M. Nuttall (1911) "The ranges of the α particles from various radioactive
substances and a relation between range and period of transformation", Philosophical
Magazine, series 6, vol. 22, no. 130, pages 613-621. See also: H. Geiger and J.M. Nuttall
(1912) "The ranges of α particles from uranium", Philosophical Magazine, series 6, vol. 23,
no. 135, pages 439-445.
7. "June 1911: Invention of the Geiger Counter" (https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/20
1206/physicshistory.cfm).
8. Maier, Elke (2011). "Flashback: Particle Billiards, Captured on Film" (https://www.mpg.de/44
44392/MPR_2011_3). MaxPlanckResearch. 3: 92–93.
9. Geiger; Müller W. (1928). "Elektronenzählrohr zur Messung schwächster Aktivitäten
(Electron counting tube for the measurement of the weakest radioactivities)". Die
Naturwissenschaften (The Sciences). 16 (31): 617–618. Bibcode:1928NW.....16..617G (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1928NW.....16..617G). doi:10.1007/BF01494093 (https://doi.o
rg/10.1007%2FBF01494093). ISSN 0028-1042 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-104
2). S2CID 27274269 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:27274269).
10. See also:
1. Geiger, H. and Müller, W. (1928) "Das Elektronenzählrohr" (The electron counting tube),
Physikalische Zeitschrift, 29: 839-841.
2. Geiger, H. and Müller, W. (1929) "Technische Bemerkungen zum Elektronenzählrohr"
(Technical notes on the electron counting tube), Physikalische Zeitschrift, 30: 489-493.
3. Geiger, H. and Müller, W. (1929) "Demonstration des Elektronenzählrohrs"
(Demonstration of the electron counting tube), Physikalische Zeitschrift, 30: 523 ff.
11. "Scientific Exodus" (https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/scientific-exodus).
12. "How 2 Pro-Nazi Nobelists Attacked Einstein's "Jewish Science" [Excerpt]" (https://www.scie
ntificamerican.com/article/how-2-pro-nazi-nobelists-attacked-einstein-s-jewish-science-exce
rpt1/). Scientific American.
External links
Media related to Hans Geiger at Wikimedia Commons
Annotated bibliography for Hans Geiger from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20060828132837/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=peop
le%2FGeiger%2C+Hans)
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