Rayleigh (1842 ~ 19 19)
Baron Rayleigh
British physicist. Formerly known as j.w. strutt. 1842165438+1October 12 was born in Witham, Essex, and 19 19 died in the same place on June 30th. At the age of 20, he entered Trinity College of Cambridge University and graduated with honors three years later. In the second year after graduation, he was elected as a researcher at Trinity College. He has outstanding talent in theory and experiment, and his research work covers almost all fields of classical physics at that time. He has many books and more than 400 papers. 1873 was elected as a member of the royal society, 1879 ~ 1884 was appointed as the director of Cavendish laboratory; 1885- 1896 as secretary of the royal society, 1905- 1908 as president. 1908 President of Cambridge University.
Rayleigh's research work began with electricity, and later he studied more acoustics and optics, such as the vibration theory in acoustics. From 1877 to 1878, he wrote two volumes of scientific classics, Principles of Acoustics, which laid the foundation of modern acoustics. He theoretically explained "why the sky is blue" and deduced the molecular scattering formula (Rayleigh scattering law, see light scattering). He made an experimental study on grating resolution and diffraction, and was the first to give a clear definition of optical instrument resolution, which played an important role in the study of spectroscopy. He measured the density of gas accurately for the first time. In 1895, he found that the density difference between nitrogen fractionated from liquid air and nitrogen separated from ammonium nitrite was very small. This fact led to the discovery of argon, a rare element in the air, and won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics. 1900, he put forward a formula about thermal radiation (Rayleigh-Jenkins formula, see blackbody radiation), which is in good agreement with the experiment in the long wave region, and prepared the conditions for the emergence of quantum theory.
Rayleigh, whose original name was R.J.Strutt, was named Lord Rayleigh III because his grandfather was named Lord Rayleigh by the British royal family, ranking third. His father is unknown in the scientific community, and is praised by Lord Rayleigh as the third scientific giant, so in the history of science, he is called Rayleigh instead of streeter.
1842165438+1October 12, Rayleigh was born in Trent, England, and received a good education since childhood because of his noble birth. When he was in primary school and middle school, he was very smart and talented. 1860 was admitted to Cambridge university with excellent results, and 1865 ranked first when he graduated from the university. At that time, the examiner in Cambridge pointed out: "Rayleigh's graduation thesis is excellent and can be printed directly without modification."
After graduation, Riley taught in Cambridge, and he devoted himself to teaching. 1879, Maxwell, a famous physics professor at Cambridge University, died, and Rayleigh succeeded as the director of Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. Rayleigh is very keen on scientific research and devoted himself wholeheartedly to it. After he became the director of Cavendish Laboratory, a famous scientific research institution, he expanded enrollment, reorganized Girton College and Newham College, and approved the enrollment of female students, so that women could enjoy the same educational rights as men. During his tenure as director, Riley took the lead in donating 500 pounds, and at the same time raised 65,438 pounds +0.500 pounds from friends, and purchased a large number of new instruments for the laboratory, thus enriching the scientific research equipment of the laboratory. Rayleigh accurately studied the electrochemical equivalent of silver in Cavendish laboratory, thus contributing to the development of electrochemistry. At the same time, he also made an accurate quantitative study on the binding volume and compressibility of gas. In addition, he has also made great achievements in photochemical research.
Rayleigh is one of the chemists who pay attention to strict quantitative research. His work style is extremely rigorous and his requirements for research results are extremely accurate, which has become an important basis for his outstanding contributions in science.
An important research of Rayleigh is to produce pure nitrogen from the mixture of air and nitrogen. After in-depth study, he submitted a report to the British Science Association in 1882, accurately pointing out that the density ratio of hydrogen and oxygen is not 1: 16, but the correct ratio should be 1: 15.882. From this incident, we can see his extremely strict working attitude. He is also engaged in the accurate measurement of gas binding volume and compressibility, calculates the molar volume of many gases in extreme cases, and strictly determines the density of nitrogen. In the process of producing oxygen and nitrogen, Rayleigh found that the oxygen density produced by three different methods is completely equal, while the nitrogen density produced by different methods is slightly different. For example, the density of nitrogen made of ammonia is different from that made of air, and the former is about 5/ 1000 smaller. In this regard, he has repeatedly verified it many times. Although this slight difference is within the allowable range from the experimental point of view, Rayleigh found that this "error" always indicates that the nitrogen obtained by removing oxygen, carbon dioxide and water from the air is heavier than the nitrogen obtained by nitrogen-containing compounds. Although the error is small, it is asymmetric and cannot be explained by traditional theory. Therefore, he published this experiment in the British magazine Nature. I asked the reader for an answer, but I never got an answer. Rayleigh believes that there may be four explanations for the fact that the proportion of nitrogen made of air is high:
(1) Nitrogen obtained from the atmosphere may also contain a small amount of oxygen.
(2) Nitrogen made from ammonia can be mixed with trace hydrogen.
(3) Nitrogen produced from the atmosphere may have n molecules similar to ozone.
(4) Some molecules of nitrogen made of ammonia may have decomposed and solidified, thus reducing the density of nitrogen.
The first hypothesis is impossible, because the density difference between oxygen and ammonia is very small, and a large amount of oxygen must be mixed to make the difference of 5/ 1000 possible. At the same time, Rayleigh proved through experiments; The nitrogen he made from ammonia never contains hydrogen. The third explanation is also unconvincing, because he changed the nitrogen that may be mixed with N3 by silent discharge, but did not find that the density of nitrogen changed, that is, N3 did not exist. The fourth hypothesis is almost impossible, because if there are free nitrogen atoms, they will inevitably combine with each other to form molecules. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to be free for a long time.
While Rayleigh was wondering, Ramsey proposed to Rayleigh that he would use a new method to study nitrogen in the atmosphere. Rayleigh generously allowed this and sincerely cooperated with Ramsey. This research led to amazing and important achievements, and found a whole group of inert gas elements such as helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon.
1On May 24th, 894, Ramsey wrote to Rayleigh and put forward the idea of the whole inert gas family. On August 7th of the same year, the discovery of an inert gas element was announced in their names. Madden, chairman of the British Science Association, proposed to name this gas argon. Rayleigh has published many academic papers in his life, and his writing is elegant and smooth. Most of his articles have strict mathematical proofs, and the quantification is very accurate. Later, he arranged his papers into a five-volume collection of essays. At the beginning of this collection, he wrote the following words:
Great and profound,
A miracle created by God!
Research and exploration,
Explore the mystery of the world's treasure chest
Enjoy it!
Riley died in 19 19, three years later than his sincere collaborator Ramsey, at the age of 77. According to travers, a student of Ramsey, there are many letters between Riley and Ramsey, and their relationship is very harmonious. "There is little suspicion and no misconduct." * * * Working hard for science, there is no fame and fortune. After Rayleigh's death, the scientific community visited his laboratory, and all the visiting scientists were surprised by the simplicity and sexiness of the instruments used by Rayleigh. All the important equipment in Rayleigh laboratory is rough in appearance, but very precise in manufacture. Rui used these instruments to do excellent quantitative analysis. Later generations often remember the famous saying of this great scientist: almost all the greatest discoveries in science come from accurate measurement.