Max Wien

Max Wien (German pronunciation: [ˈviːn]; 1866 – 1938) was a German physicist and the director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Jena. He was born in Königsberg, Prussia.

Wien studied under Helmholtz and Kundt.^[1] He invented the "Löschfunkensender" (generator of slightly weakened electromagnetic oscillations, used for example, on the RMS Titanic) during the years 1906 to 1909 and the Wien bridge in 1891. Many articles incorrectly attribute to Wien the invention of an oscillator bearing his name, but at the time of the invention of his bridge circuit, electronic amplifiers (a prerequisite to making electronic oscillators) did not exist. William Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, was the first to use a Wien bridge as a feedback network around a vacuum tube amplifier to create an oscillator in 1939.

Erwin Schrödinger in his autobiography "Mein Leben, Meine Weltansicht" described Wien as "moderately anti-semitic".

He died in Jena, Germany.

Persondata
Name	Wien, Max
Alternative names	Wiener, Max
Short description
Date of birth	1866
Place of birth
Date of death	1938
Place of death

See also

• Wien effect

References

1. ^ Karl Willy Wagner, "Max Wien zum 70. Geburtstag", Naturwissenschaften, Volume 25, Number 5, 65-67, DOI: 10.1007/BF01493271 (link to pdf) (in German).