Doppler, Christian Johann


Doppler, Christian Johann

 

Born Nov. 29, 1803, in Salzburg; died Mar. 17, 1853, in Venice. Austrian physicist and astronomer. Member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences (1848).

Doppler studied in Salzburg and Vienna. In 1847 he became a professor at the Chemnitz Mining and Forestry Academy. From 1850 he was a professor at the Polytechnic Institute and the University of Vienna. His works were concerned with the aberration of light, the theory of the microscope and optical range finder, and the theory of colors, among others. In 1842 he provided the theoretical foundation for the dependence of the frequency of a vibration received by an observer on the speed and direction of motion of the observer with respect to the source of the vibration or of the source with respect to the observer.

WORKS

Abhandlungen. Edited by H. A. von Lorentz. Leipzig, 1907. (Ostwald’s Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften, no. 161.)