Ferdinand Kurlbaum

Ferdinand Kurlbaum ( born October 4, 1857 in Castle, † July 29, 1927 in Berlin) was a German physicist.

Life and work

As the son of a magistrate, he had to follow his father often staggered. School problems were the result, with only 23, he completed his schooling. He studied mathematics and physics in Heidelberg and Berlin with Hermann Helmholtz. 1887 dissertation on the determination of the wavelength of the Fraunhofer lines was done.

There was a wizard time in Hanover. From 1891 he worked in the optical laboratory of the Physikalisch- Technical Institute in Berlin. The physics of light and heat radiation was his theme. Together with Heinrich Rubens, he carried out measurements of the radiation intensity of black body. These were important foundations for the Planck's radiation law and thus for quantum physics. Another area was the use of X-rays in medicine.

In 1904 Kurlbaum a professorship at the Technical University of Charlottenburg. Together with Adolf Miethe he led in 1908 in Upper Egypt measurements of the temperature of the sun through. From 1908 to 1925 he was head of the Physics Institute of the Technical University of Charlottenburg.

Kurlbaum was 1910-1912 president of the German Physical Society. In World War I he was Speaker of the artillery Examiners.

Kurlbaum married in 1895 Elisabeth von Siemens. They had two daughters and a son. After his son Georg, Georg- Kurlbaum price of the SPD is named for innovative economic benefits.

Ferdinand Kurlbaum was buried in the family vault Siemens in the park of the castle Ahlsdorf in Herzberg.