Christian Doppler

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Christian Doppler

Johann Christian Andreas Doppler (November 29, 1803 – March 17, 1853) was an Austrian mathematician and physicist, most famous for the hypothesis of what is now known as the Doppler effect which is the apparent change in frequency and wavelength of a wave that is perceived by an observer moving relative to the source of the waves.

1 Life
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Life

Christian Doppler was born in Salzburg as the son of a stone-mason. However he could not work in his father's business because of his generally weak physical condition. After completing high school he studied astronomy and mathematics in Vienna and Salzburg and started to work at the Prague Polytechnic (now Czech Technical University), where he was appointed professor for mathematics and physics in 1841.

Only one year later at the age of 39 he published his most notable work on the Doppler effect (for instance to be noticed in the change of sound of a quickly passing vehicle). In his time in Prague as professor he published more than 50 articles in mathematics, physics and astronomy.

His research career in Prague was interrupted by the revolutionary incidents of March 1848, when he fled to Vienna. There he was appointed head of the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna in 1850. During his presence at the University of Vienna, Doppler, along with Franz Unger, played an influential role in the development of young Gregor Mendel who later became the founding father of genetics.

He died from a pulmonary disease in Venice at age 49 on March 17, 1853.

[edit] References

Peter M. Schuster: Moving the Stars - Christian Doppler: His Life, His Works and Principle, and the World After. - Pöllauberg, Austria: Living Edition, 2005. - ISBN 3-901585-05-2 (translated by Lily Wilmes; Webpage of the author)