Friedrich Paschen

Friedrich Paschen
Born(1865-01-22)22 January 1865
Schwerin
Died25 February 1947(1947-02-25) (aged 82)
Potsdam
Known forPaschen–Back effect
Paschen series
Paschen's law
AwardsRumford Medal (1928)

Louis Carl Heinrich Friedrich Paschen (22 January 1865 – 25 February 1947) was a German physicist, known for his work on electrical discharges. He is also known for the Paschen series, a series of hydrogen spectral lines in the infrared region that he first observed in 1908. He established the now widely used Paschen curve in his article "Über die zum Funkenübergang in Luft, Wasserstoff und Kohlensäure bei verschiedenen Drücken erforderliche Potentialdifferenz".[1] He is known for the Paschen-Back effect, which is the Zeeman effect's becoming non-linear at high magnetic field. He helped explain the hollow cathode effect in 1916.[2]

  1. ^ Friedrich Paschen (1889). "Ueber die zum Funkenübergang in Luft, Wasserstoff und Kohlensäure bei verschiedenen Drucken erforderliche Potentialdifferenz". Annalen der Physik. 273 (5): 69–75. Bibcode:1889AnP...273...69P. doi:10.1002/andp.18892730505. hdl:2027/uc1.$b624756.
  2. ^ Paschen, F. (1916). "Bohrs Heliumlinien". Annalen der Physik. 355 (16): 901–940. Bibcode:1916AnP...355..901P. doi:10.1002/andp.19163551603. ISSN 0003-3804.