Arthur Schuster
Encyclopedia
Sir Franz Arthur Friedrich Schuster FRS
(12 September 1851 – 17 October 1934) was a German
-born British
physicist
known for his work in spectroscopy
, electrochemistry
, optics
, X-radiography
and the application of harmonic analysis
to physics
. He contributed to making the University of Manchester
a centre for the study of physics.
, Germany into a family of merchants and bankers.
Schuster's parents were married in 1849, converted from Judaism to Christianity, and brought up their children in that faith. In 1869, his father moved to Manchester where the family textile business was based. Arthur, who had been to school in Frankfurt and was studying in Geneva
, joined his parents in 1870 and he and the other children became British citizens in 1875.
From his childhood, Schuster had been interested in science and after working for a year for Schuster Brothers he persuaded his father to let him study at Owens College
. He studied mathematics under Thomas Barker and physics under Balfour Stewart
, and began research with Henry Roscoe
on the spectra of hydrogen and nitrogen. He spent a year with Gustav Kirchhoff
at the University of Heidelberg
, and having gained his PhD, returned to Owens as an unpaid demonstrator in physics. Schuster later used his family's wealth to buy material and equipment and to endow readerships in mathematical physics at Manchester and meteorology at Cambridge
. He also contributed to the Royal Society
and the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research.
After a further period of study in Germany with Wilhelm Eduard Weber
and Hermann von Helmholtz
, he returned to England, where his knowledge of spectrum analysis led to him being appointed to lead an expedition to Siam, to photograph the coronal spectrum during the total solar eclipse of 6 April 1875
. This was an important appointment for such a junior scientist. On the way, he wrote a letter dated 21 February 1875, to Nature
describing his observation of the "green flash" phenomenon.
of the University of Cambridge. His status there was quite unofficial; he was neither a student nor a fellow. He worked with Maxwell
and with Rayleigh
. In 1881 he was appointed to the Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics
at Owens, by now one of the colleges of the new Victoria University. He succeeded his teacher Balfour Stewart as professor of physics in 1888. This appointment gave him the opportunity to establish a large, active teaching and research department. In 1900 a new laboratory, for which he had fought and which he had designed, was officially opened. It was the fourth largest in the world. The laboratory quickly became a serious rival to the Cavendish; see Manchester Science Hall of Fame
. Much of this later fame was associated with Ernest Rutherford
who succeeded Schuster as Langworthy Professor in 1907. Schuster resigned from the chair, partly for health reasons and partly to promote the cause of international science. He ensured that Rutherford would succeed him.
Schuster is credited with coining the concept of "antimatter" in two letters to Nature
in 1898. He hypothesized antiatoms, and whole antimatter solar systems, which would yield energy if the atoms combined with atoms of normal matter. His hypothesis was given a mathematical foundation by the work of Paul Dirac
in 1928, which predicted antiparticles and later led to their discovery.
Schuster is perhaps most widely remembered for his periodogram analysis, a technique which was long the main practical tool for identifying statistically important frequencies present in a time series of observations. He first used this form of harmonic analysis in 1897 to disprove C. G. Knott's
claim of periodicity in earthquake occurrences. He went on to apply the technique to analysing sunspot
activity. This was an old interest. In 1875 Stewart's friend and Roscoe's cousin, the economist Jevons
, reported, "Mr. A Schuster of Owens College has ingeniously pointed out that the periods of good vintage in Western Europe have occurred at intervals somewhat approximating to eleven years, the average length of the principal sun-spot cycle."
Schuster is credited by Chandrasekhar
to have given a fresh start to the radiative transfer
problem. Schuster formulated in 1905 a problem in radiative transfer in an attempt to explain the appearance of absorption and emission lines in stellar spectra.
Following the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, the Schuster family was subjected to anti-German prejudice in the press and, in Arthur's case, in some quarters of the Royal Society. His brother Sir Felix Schuster
had to issue a statement pointing out the family's loyalty to Britain and that they all had sons serving in the British army. On the day Arthur gave his presidential address to the 1915 British Association meeting, he learned that his son had been wounded.
Schuster was regarded by his contemporaries as a mathematical physicist of exceptional ability but also as a capable administrator and teacher, and an advocate for the role of science in education and industry.
in 1879, and knighted
in the 1920 New Year Honours. Other honours include doctorates from the universities of Geneva (1909), St Andrews (1911), and Oxford (1917) and the award of the Royal
, Rumford
and Copley
medals of the Royal Society (1893, 1926 and 1931).
Schuster served as secretary of the Royal Society and was elected vice-president (1919–20) and foreign secretary (1920–24). He also served as secretary of the International Research Council (1919–28) and on the management committees for the Meteorological Office (1905–32) and National Physical Laboratory
(1899–1902, 1920–25).
The University of Manchester's Physics building is named after Schuster.
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(12 September 1851 – 17 October 1934) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
known for his work in spectroscopy
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
, electrochemistry
Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies chemical reactions which take place in a solution at the interface of an electron conductor and an ionic conductor , and which involve electron transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte or species in solution.If a chemical reaction is...
, optics
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
, X-radiography
Radiography
Radiography is the use of X-rays to view a non-uniformly composed material such as the human body. By using the physical properties of the ray an image can be developed which displays areas of different density and composition....
and the application of harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis is the branch of mathematics that studies the representation of functions or signals as the superposition of basic waves. It investigates and generalizes the notions of Fourier series and Fourier transforms...
to physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
. He contributed to making the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
a centre for the study of physics.
Early years
Arthur Schuster was born in Frankfurt am MainFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany into a family of merchants and bankers.
Schuster's parents were married in 1849, converted from Judaism to Christianity, and brought up their children in that faith. In 1869, his father moved to Manchester where the family textile business was based. Arthur, who had been to school in Frankfurt and was studying in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, joined his parents in 1870 and he and the other children became British citizens in 1875.
From his childhood, Schuster had been interested in science and after working for a year for Schuster Brothers he persuaded his father to let him study at Owens College
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
. He studied mathematics under Thomas Barker and physics under Balfour Stewart
Balfour Stewart
Balfour Stewart was a Scottish physicist. His studies in the field of radiant heat led to him receiving the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society in 1868. In 1859 he was appointed director of Kew Observatory...
, and began research with Henry Roscoe
Henry Enfield Roscoe
Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, FRS was an English chemist. He is particularly noted for early work on vanadium and for photochemical studies.- Life and work :...
on the spectra of hydrogen and nitrogen. He spent a year with Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects...
at the University of Heidelberg
Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
The Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is a public research university located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386, it is the oldest university in Germany and was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire. Heidelberg has been a coeducational institution...
, and having gained his PhD, returned to Owens as an unpaid demonstrator in physics. Schuster later used his family's wealth to buy material and equipment and to endow readerships in mathematical physics at Manchester and meteorology at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. He also contributed to the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
and the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research.
After a further period of study in Germany with Wilhelm Eduard Weber
Wilhelm Eduard Weber
Wilhelm Eduard Weber was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph.-Early years:...
and Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
, he returned to England, where his knowledge of spectrum analysis led to him being appointed to lead an expedition to Siam, to photograph the coronal spectrum during the total solar eclipse of 6 April 1875
Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875
A total solar eclipse occurred on April 6, 1875. Totality was visible on the southern tip of Africa, across the Indian ocean, and across southeastern Asia.- Observations :...
. This was an important appointment for such a junior scientist. On the way, he wrote a letter dated 21 February 1875, to Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
describing his observation of the "green flash" phenomenon.
Career
On his return to Manchester, he began research on electricity and then went on to spend five years at the Cavendish LaboratoryCavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
of the University of Cambridge. His status there was quite unofficial; he was neither a student nor a fellow. He worked with Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
and with Rayleigh
John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, OM was an English physicist who, with William Ramsay, discovered the element argon, an achievement for which he earned the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904...
. In 1881 he was appointed to the Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics
Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics
The Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics is an endowed professorial position in the School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England. The endowment came from the engineer Charles Frederick Beyer, a generous supporter of the University....
at Owens, by now one of the colleges of the new Victoria University. He succeeded his teacher Balfour Stewart as professor of physics in 1888. This appointment gave him the opportunity to establish a large, active teaching and research department. In 1900 a new laboratory, for which he had fought and which he had designed, was officially opened. It was the fourth largest in the world. The laboratory quickly became a serious rival to the Cavendish; see Manchester Science Hall of Fame
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
. Much of this later fame was associated with Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
who succeeded Schuster as Langworthy Professor in 1907. Schuster resigned from the chair, partly for health reasons and partly to promote the cause of international science. He ensured that Rutherford would succeed him.
Schuster is credited with coining the concept of "antimatter" in two letters to Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
in 1898. He hypothesized antiatoms, and whole antimatter solar systems, which would yield energy if the atoms combined with atoms of normal matter. His hypothesis was given a mathematical foundation by the work of Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
in 1928, which predicted antiparticles and later led to their discovery.
Schuster is perhaps most widely remembered for his periodogram analysis, a technique which was long the main practical tool for identifying statistically important frequencies present in a time series of observations. He first used this form of harmonic analysis in 1897 to disprove C. G. Knott's
Cargill Gilston Knott
Cargill Gilston Knott was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan...
claim of periodicity in earthquake occurrences. He went on to apply the technique to analysing sunspot
Sunspot
Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature....
activity. This was an old interest. In 1875 Stewart's friend and Roscoe's cousin, the economist Jevons
William Stanley Jevons
William Stanley Jevons was a British economist and logician.Irving Fisher described his book The Theory of Political Economy as beginning the mathematical method in economics. It made the case that economics as a science concerned with quantities is necessarily mathematical...
, reported, "Mr. A Schuster of Owens College has ingeniously pointed out that the periods of good vintage in Western Europe have occurred at intervals somewhat approximating to eleven years, the average length of the principal sun-spot cycle."
Schuster is credited by Chandrasekhar
Chandrasekhar
Chandrasekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. Etymologically, the name comes from the Sanskrit words "चन्द्र ", meaning "moon", and "शेखर ", meaning "crest" or "crown" which is an epithet of Hindu god Shiva...
to have given a fresh start to the radiative transfer
Radiative transfer
Radiative transfer is the physical phenomenon of energy transfer in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The propagation of radiation through a medium is affected by absorption, emission and scattering processes. The equation of radiative transfer describes these interactions mathematically...
problem. Schuster formulated in 1905 a problem in radiative transfer in an attempt to explain the appearance of absorption and emission lines in stellar spectra.
Following the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914, the Schuster family was subjected to anti-German prejudice in the press and, in Arthur's case, in some quarters of the Royal Society. His brother Sir Felix Schuster
Felix Schuster
Sir Felix Schuster, Bt. was a British banker and financier.-Biography:He was educated at Frankfurt-am-Main, Geneva, and Owens College, Manchester; and then went into business in London...
had to issue a statement pointing out the family's loyalty to Britain and that they all had sons serving in the British army. On the day Arthur gave his presidential address to the 1915 British Association meeting, he learned that his son had been wounded.
Schuster was regarded by his contemporaries as a mathematical physicist of exceptional ability but also as a capable administrator and teacher, and an advocate for the role of science in education and industry.
Honours and awards
Schuster was elected to the Royal SocietyRoyal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1879, and knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the 1920 New Year Honours. Other honours include doctorates from the universities of Geneva (1909), St Andrews (1911), and Oxford (1917) and the award of the Royal
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
, Rumford
Rumford Medal
The Rumford Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every alternating year for "an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter made by a scientist working in Europe". First awarded in 1800, it was created after a 1796 donation of $5000 by the...
and Copley
Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
medals of the Royal Society (1893, 1926 and 1931).
Schuster served as secretary of the Royal Society and was elected vice-president (1919–20) and foreign secretary (1920–24). He also served as secretary of the International Research Council (1919–28) and on the management committees for the Meteorological Office (1905–32) and National Physical Laboratory
National Physical Laboratory, UK
The National Physical Laboratory is the national measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom, based at Bushy Park in Teddington, London, England. It is the largest applied physics organisation in the UK.-Description:...
(1899–1902, 1920–25).
The University of Manchester's Physics building is named after Schuster.
Further reading
- Beginning in 1871 Schuster contributed many articles to the Royal Society journals. These articles are available online at JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
and at Gallica. - Arthur Schuster Biographical Fragments London; Macmillan (1932). - An attractive collection of reminiscences about Schuster's education and his expeditions with recollections of the scientists he knew.
- Richard J. Howarth, ‘Schuster, Sir Arthur (1851-1934)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 31 August 2005.
- Charlton, H. B. (1951) Portrait of a University. Manchester: University Press; chap. V: the Schuster-Tout epoch
External links
- Arthur Schuster, "On Lunar and Solar Periodicities of Earthquakes ", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 61 (1897), pp. 455–465 - Schuster's first paper on the use of the technique he later called the periodogram
- Arthur Schuster, "On the Periodicities of Sunspots", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Vol. 206. (1906), pp. 69–100. - Schuster's later paper on sunspots
- Schuster's Royal Society citation signed by Maxwell, Joule, and others
- Obituary Notices : Fellows:- Schuster, Sir Arthur, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 95, p.326
- There is a photograph of Schuster at the Science and Society Picture Library and many more (as well as the X ray photographs he took) at Wellcome Images.
- The story of Schuster and the medical use of X-rays is told at Sir Arthur Schuster A pioneer in the use of X-Rays
- The position of Schuster at the Cavendish is described in Cavendish Laboratory: the First Ten Years