Wilhelm Wien, Physicist

* January 13, 1864 in Gaffken
† August 30, 1928 in München

As successor of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and Friedrich Kohlrausch, he accepted a chair of physics at the JMU. The Wiensche Verschiebungsgesetz (Wien's displacement law) of 1896 and the Wiensche Strahlungsgesetz (Wien's distribution law) derivated from his studies. His theories on the electromagnetic nature of physical processes prepared the ground for Einstein’s special theory of relativity (the equivalence of energy and mass). In 1911, he received the Nobel Prize for his work on thermal radiation. In 1919, he succeeded Röntgen in the Chair of Physics at the LMU.

His home was the world-famous “Röntgenhaus”, Röntgenring 8, in his day Pleicher Ring 8/I.