Wilhelm Wien

Wilhelm Wien
Wilhelm Wien
	Wien in 1911
Born	Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz Wien; 13 January 1864; Gaffken, Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	30 August 1928 (aged 64); Munich, Bavaria, Weimar Republic
Alma mater	University of Göttingen; University of Berlin (PhD)
Known for	Wien's displacement law; Wien's distribution law; Wien filter;
Relatives	Max Wien (cousin)
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (1911); Guthrie Lecture (1925)
	Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Giessen; University of Würzburg; University of Munich; RWTH Aachen;
Doctoral advisor	Hermann von Helmholtz
Doctoral students	Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark; Eduard Rüchardt

Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz Wien (German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈviːn] ^ⓘ; 13 January 1864 – 30 August 1928) was a German physicist who, in 1893, used theories about heat and electromagnetism to deduce Wien's displacement law, which calculates the emission of a blackbody at any temperature from the emission at any one reference temperature.

He also formulated an expression for the black-body radiation, which is correct in the photon-gas limit. His arguments were based on the notion of adiabatic invariance, and were instrumental for the formulation of quantum mechanics. Wien received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1911 for his work on heat radiation.

He was a cousin of Max Wien, inventor of the Wien bridge.