Robert von Lieben

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Robert von Lieben (September 5, 1878 in Vienna – February 20, 1913 in Vienna) was a notable Austrian physicist.

Robert von Lieben was born to Lopold von Lieben and Anna von Lieben.

1 Education
2 Military experience
3 Discoveries
4 References

[edit] Education

Lieben attempted Gymnasium (honors high school) and then enrolled Realschule (regular high school); however he left without taking the Abitur (university qualification exams). He showed a knack for the physical sciences at a young age.

Thanks to his well-off parents (his father, Leopold von Lieben, was president of the Vienna board of trade, and his mother, Anna von Lieben, born of the Vienese Todesco dynasty, owned a mansion Ringstrasse, across from the opera house), he could independently pursue his scientific propensity; for example, at his father's estate in Mödling he installed electric lighting. After his education he interned at Siemens-Schuckertwerke in Nürnberg.

[edit] Military experience

The young Lieben voluntarily enrolled in the military, but only weeks later was discharged after he fell off his horse and severely injured himself. From this point on, Lieben's health always troubled him, and an adrenal abscess, which never completely healed, probably contributed to his early death.

After auditing classes at the University of Vienna, he studied for one year at the Göttinger Institute for physical chemistry, where he again received no degree. This period of study influenced von Lieben greatly; he and his mentor, Nernst, would speak for hours over radiological discoveries and speculate over the future of motorized flight; Nernst, among other things, improved the Wright brothers' aircraft design. Back in Vienna, he started a laboratory.

[edit] Discoveries

The results of the discovery of an electro-chemical phonograph and the polarization of X-rays in 1903, as well as the purchase of a telephone factory in Olmütz (Mähren) in 1904, provoked Lieben to develop a telephone amplifier via a cathode beam (electron beam) known as the telephone-relay.

In 1906 von Lieben applied for a patent for his cathode-beam relay: he patented the ability of a magnetic field to deflect an electron ray. Media:Robert_von_Lieben.gif

In 1910 he improved the design by adding a steering-grille, with which the density (frequency? the german article uses the word "Dichte," which could mean either) was controlled and consequently an amplification effect was attained. Lieben patented this effect.

Lieben encountered a problem with the mercury vapor rest gases, which interfered with an ionization effect. A high vacuum could not be sustained until 1913.

At the age of 34, Lieben died in 1913.