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Eugen von Gothard and His X-Ray Experiments

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Abstract

Eugen von Gothard (1857–1909) made significant contributions to astrophysics and founded the Astrophysical Observatory in Herény, Hungary, in 1881. He also was a gifted instrument maker who designed and produced the apparatus and equipment he needed to carry out his researches, which enabled him to respond immediately to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen’s astonishing discovery of X rays. Von Gothard took his first X-ray photograph on January 23, 1896, thus inaugurating his first series of experiments, which ended on May 26, 1896. He carried out a second series of experiments on June 21–22, 1905, four years before his premature death at age 51.

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References

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Acknowledgment

We thank Roger H. Stuewer for his thoughtful and careful editorial work on our paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gothard Astrophysical Observatory of Eötvös University, Szent Imre Herceg str. 112, 9704, Szombathely, Hungary

    Ildikó J. Vincze & István Jankovics

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  1. Ildikó J. Vincze
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  2. István Jankovics
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Correspondence to Ildikó J. Vincze.

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Ildikó J. Vincze is a researcher at the Gothard Astrophysical Observatory of Eötvös University in Herény, Hungary. She studied physics, mathematics, and astronomy at Eötvös University in Budapest. Her research interests include the history of astrophysics at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. István Jankovics is Director of the Gothard Astrophysical Observatory. He studied physics, mathematics, and astronomy at Eötvös University in Budapest and received his Ph.D. degree in astrophysics at Yerevan University in Armenia in 1975 and a D.Sc. degree from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1999. His research interests include the history of astronomy.

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Vincze, I.J., Jankovics, I. Eugen von Gothard and His X-Ray Experiments. Phys. Perspect. 12, 25–35 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-009-0003-z

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