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Kirchhoff a True Master of Electricity & Magnetism.

The 12th of March was the birthday of the German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff, who was born in the Prussian city of Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1824. This German physicist is mainly known for his contributions to electromagnetic theory, more specifically for his very valuable contributions to the theory of electrical circuits, spectroscopy and his deep studies in thermal radiation.

Today, it is safe to say that anyone with any level of secondary education or knowledge of basic science has heard of or used the famous 'Kirchhoff's Laws', which describe the behaviour of current and voltage flows in electrical circuits, and thus these laws are an essential component of any educational programme that aims to introduce students to scientific knowledge, and in particular to give them a better understanding of the nature of electricity and magnetism.

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Main Mathematical & Physical Contributions.

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• The Kirchhoff's Laws:
  They are known as Kirchhoff's laws because Professor Kirchhoff was able to formulate two physical-mathematical laws that are essential for the analysis of electrical circuits: Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL) and Kirchhoff's Voltage Law (KVL).

  Both Kirchhoffs' laws are able to explain the behaviour of current and voltage in electrical circuits of a basic and complex nature, all through very detailed mathematical calculations.

A Diagram of an Electrical Circuit.

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• Spectroscopy:
  Together with the German scientist Robert Bunsen, Kirchhoff developed the 'spectroscopy', a technique for the analysis of the type of light that is emitted by chemical substances. Using the spectroscopy, Bunsen and Kirchhoff discovered the chemical elements Caesium and Rubidium.

• Thermal Radiation:
  Another of his great contributions to physics was the formulation of Kirchhoff's Law for thermal radiation, which explains the relationship between the emission and absorption of radiation by a body. He was also a major contributor to the Kirchhoff-Love plate theory, which is nothing more than a mathematical model that can be used to study the deformations and stresses experienced by thin plates.

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Life and Performance.

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Professor Kirchhoff was awarded a doctorate in physics by the University of Königsberg in 1847. He also obtained important teaching posts at universities such as the Universities of Wroclaw, Heidelberg and Berlin. A highlight of his career was his constant collaboration with one of the most famous chemists of the time, Robert Bunsen, who was to be an important ally in his scientific work that would eventually lead to the creation of spectroscopy.

He was especially respected and known by his colleagues for being a methodical scientist, whose work possessed spectacular experimental precision and theoretical clarity of the highest level, which made him a highly cited scientist by his peers.

Key Publications:

• ‘Über den Durchgang eines elektrischen Stromes durch eine Ebene, insbesondere durch eine kreisförmige' (On the passage of an electric current through a plane, in particular through a circular one)':
  This was one of Gustav's first exhibits, demonstrating his exceptional talent for applying his mathematical knowledge to solve physics-related problems on this publication in 1845.

• 'Über die Auflösung der Gleichungen, auf welche man bei der Untersuchung der linearen Verteilung galvanischer Ströme geführt wird' (On the resolution of the equations obtained when investigating the linear distribution of galvanic currents)':
  This article was published in 1847, and contains the initial formulations of Kirchoff's laws for the analysis of electrical circuits.

• 'Vorlesungen über mathematische Physik' (Lectures on Mathematical Physics):
  This work is a compilation of a series of lectures given by Professor Kirchhoff between 1876 and 1894 on various topics in physics and mathematics, among which his lectures on the study of mechanics, heat, optics and electricity stand out. Therefore, this compilation became a widely cited work by all types of scientists of that time.

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Without a doubt, the work of this giant of physics and mathematics still has a significant impact on modern society. Due to the nature of the physical laws he describes regarding electric current and voltage in electrical circuits, which are often essential foundations for electrical engineering, it can be assured that his scientific developments in the socio-technological field will also always be present in the future of humanity. Furthermore, his work in spectroscopy is widely used today, and we can even see it applied in astronomy and the chemical analysis of the composition of celestial bodies.

Gustav passed away in Berlin, the capital of Germany, in 1887.

Thank you for so much, Professor Gustav Kirchhoff.

Some of His Contributions.

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Gustav Kirchhoff Portrait Image Source

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Note: All the images related to Kirchhoff Contributions are crafted by me using the text editor based on LaTeX: Beamer. Also, the electrical diagram shown in this post was created by me using the Wolfram language: 'Mathematica'.

'The Structure of this article is by my authorship too.'

Regards.

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References

"The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. II Ch. 22: AC Circuits". feynmanlectures.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-06.

Oldham, Kalil T. Swain (2008). The doctrine of description: Gustav Kirchhoff, classical physics, and the "purpose of all science" in 19th-century Germany (Ph. D.). University of California, Berkeley. p. 52. Docket 3331743.

Enrique Zeleny (2011), "Draw Your Own Electrical Circuit" Wolfram Demonstrations Project. demonstrations.wolfram.com/DrawYourOwnElectricalCircuit/

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