Otto Baumbach (1882-1966) was the glassblower who built part of the apparatus used by Ernest Rutherford and colleagues in the famous Gold foil experiment.[1][2] In fact, this experiment has been referred to as the Rutherford-Royds-Baumbach experiment:[3]
Otto Baumbach | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 September 1882 Niederwilligen, Germany |
| Died | 1966 Alkrington, UK |
The essential feature of that famous experiment - surely the centerpiece of Rutherford's Nobel Lecture ate the same fall - was a tiny glass tube blown so thin (about 1/100 mm) that it allowed α-particles emitted from radium emanation encapsulated within it to penetrate with negligible change in velocity, yet was impervious to helium gas [17-48]. The tube, still preserved in Cambridge, was the handiwork of Otto Baumbach, imported from Germany by Schuster; his role in Rutherford's laboratory is reminiscent of Kamerlingh Onnes' Glasbläsermeister O Kesselring in Leiden and his craftsmanship - witness figure 14.2 in an earlier chapter. (The experiment with Royds is sometimes referred to as the Rutherford-Royds-Baumbach experiment.)
— Per F Dahl, Flash of the cathode rays : a history of J.J. Thomson's electron
It was Baumbach's ability to blow, "fine tubes very uniform in thickness." which led to him being key to Rutherford's work.[2][4] In fact, such was Baumbach's skill that he was involved in many important experiments and acknowledged on some of the associated publications.[5]
Career
editBaumbach started working at the University of Manchester at some time in the early 1900s and certainly before 1905 when an article, published in May that year, stated:[6]
We are indebted to the skill of the University glassblower OTTO BAUMBACH for the accurate grinding of these taps, and for the joints by which he succeeded in fusing hard Jena to soft glass.
He had an independent business selling glassware and building equipment. He supplied Robert Falcon Scott with sample tubes for his 1910 Terra Nova Antarctic Expedition.[1]
After the First World War, he began trading as J.C.Cowlishaw and this business was incorporated in 1925 and continued until it was officially wound-up in 1982.[1]
Personal life
editGottlob Otto Baumbach was born on 10 September 1882 in Niederwilligen, Germany.[1] He studied at the Thüringische Landesfachschule für Glasinstrumententechnik in Ilmenau (Thuringia School for Glass Instrument Technology).
He died in 1966, at the age of 84, in Alkrington, UK.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "History of Physics Newsletter Vol 23 part 3". www.physicshistory.org.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ a b Rutherford, E.; Royds, T. (February 1909). "XXI. The nature of the α particle from radioactive substances". The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 17 (98): 281–286. doi:10.1080/14786440208636599. ISSN 1941-5982.
- ^ Dahl, Per F. (1997). Flash of the cathode rays : a history of J.J. Thomson's electron. Bristol: Institute of Physics Pub. p. 332. ISBN 978-0585208534. OCLC 44959463 – via Google Books.
- ^ Lightman, Bernard (28 January 2016). A companion to the history of science. Lightman, Bernard V., 1950-. Chichester, UK. ISBN 9781118620748. OCLC 926106013.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ White, Charles Powell (1909). "On the occurrence of crystals in tumours". The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 13 (1): 3–10. doi:10.1002/path.1700130103. ISSN 0368-3494.
- Magian, A. C. (24 June 1911). "The Rapid Treatment of Gonorrhoea". British Medical Journal. 1 (2634): 1463. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.2634.1463. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2334347. PMID 20765694.
- Rooth, J. (24 June 1911). "A Case of Blackwater Fever in England". British Medical Journal. 1 (2634): 1462–1463. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.2634.1462. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2334324. PMID 20765693. - ^ Dixon, Harold Baily; Edgar, Edward C. (1 January 1906). "V. The atomic weight of chlorine: An attempt to determine the equivalent of chlorine by direct burning with hydrogen". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A. 205 (387–401): 169–200. doi:10.1098/rsta.1906.0005. ISSN 0264-3952.
- ^ "History of Physics Newsletter Vol 23 part 3". Physics History. Retrieved 24 November 2018.