physics

Rudolf Ladenburg

Rudolf Ladenburg is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rudolf Ladenburg rather than just read about it. In short: Rudolf Walter Ladenburg (6 June 1882 – 6 April 1952) was a German physicist. When the wave of German emigration began in 1933, he was the principal coordinator for job placement of exiled physicists in the United States.

Key takeaways

Rudolf Ladenburg belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rudolf Ladenburg to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rudolf Ladenburg from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rudolf Walter Ladenburg (6 June 1882 – 6 April 1952) was a German physicist. When the wave of German emigration began in 1933, he was the principal coordinator for job placement of exiled physicists in the United States. Albert Einstein gave the eulogy at Rudolf's funeral.

Biography Rudolf Walter Ladenburg was born on 6 June 1882 in Kiel, Germany, the son of Jewish chemist Albert Ladenburg and Margarete Pringsheim. He was a non-practicing Jew and an atheist. From 1900 to 1906, Ladenburg studied at Heidelberg University, the University of Breslau, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In 1906, he received his Ph.D. under Wilhelm Röntgen at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In 1911, Ladenburg married Else Uhthoff, with whom he had three children; Margarethe, Kurt, and Eva. After completing his habilitation, Ladenburg became a Privatdozent at the University of Breslau, and in 1909 an ausserordentlicher Professor. In 1924, he took an appointment at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, along with becoming a scientific member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in Berlin. Ladenburg went to the United States in 1930, when he was appointed to the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Chair of Physics at Princeton University. When the emigration wave from Germany began in April 1933, he was the principal coordinator for the employment of exiled physicists in the United States. He retired from Princeton in 1950. Ladenburg died on 6 April 1952 in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 69.

Articles Rudolf Ladenburg and Stanislaw Loria Nature, Anomalous Dispersion of Luminous Hydrogen Volume 79, 7-7 (5 November 1908) Rudolf Ladenburg Die quantentheoretische Bedeutung der Zahl der Dispersionelektronen, Z. Phys. Volume 4, Number 4, 451-468 (1921). Received on 8 February 1921. Institutional affiliation: Breslau, Physikal. Institut der Universität. English translation: The quantum-theoretical number of dispersion electrons in B. L. van der Waerden Sources of Quantum Mechanics (Dover, 1968) pp. 139 – 157. R. Ladenburg and F. Reiche Dispersionsgesetz und Bohrsche Atomtheorie, Die Naturwissenschaften , Volume 12, Issue 33, pp. 672–673 (1924) Hans Kopfermann and Rudolf Ladenburg Elektrooptische Untersuchungen am Natriumdampf. (Anomale elektrische Doppelbrechung; Starkeffekt an der Resonanzstrahlung), Annalen der Physik, Volume 383, Issue 23, pp. 659–679 (1925) Hans Kopfermann and Rudolf Ladenburg Untersuchungen über die anomale Dispersion angeregter Gase II Teil. Anomale Dispersion in angeregtem Neon Einfluß von Strom und Druck, Bildung und Vernichtung angeregter Atome, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 48, Numbers 1-2, pp. 26–50 (January 1928). Received 17 December 1927. Institutional affiliation: Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie, Berlin-Dahlem. H. Kopfermann and R. Ladenburg Experimental Proof of ‘Negative Dispersion’, Nature Volume 122, 438-439 (22 September 1928) R. Ladenburg and S. Levy Untersuchungen über die anomale Dispersion angeregter Gase VI. Teil: Kontrollversuche für den Nachweis der negativen Dispersion: Absorption, anomale Dispersion, Intensitätsverteilung und Intensität verschiedener Neonlinien Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 65, Numbers 3-4. pp. 189–206 (March 1930). Received 12 August 1930. Institutional affiliation: Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie, Berlin-Dahlem. Rudolf Ladenburg Dispersion in Electrically Excited Gases Rev. Mod. Phys. Volume 5, 243–256 (1933). The author was cited as being at Princeton University. Rudolf W. Ladenburg Light absorption and distribution of atmospheric ozone, Journal of the Optical Society of America, Volume 25, Issue 9, p. 259 (1935) Max Born, R. Fürth, and Rudolf Ladenburg Long Duration of the Balmer Spectrum in Hydrogen, Nature Volume 157, pp. 159–159 (9 February 1946). Institutional affiliations: Born and Fürth were identified as being in the Department of Mathematical Physics, The University, Edinburgh, and Ladenburg was identified as being in the Palmer Physical Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.

Books Rudolf Walter Ladenburg Planck's elementares Wirkungsquantum und die Methoden zu seiner Messung (Hirzel, 1921)

Notes

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rudolf Ladenburg

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rudolf Ladenburg claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rudolf Ladenburg before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rudolf Ladenburg ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rudolf Ladenburg

In research: Rudolf Ladenburg appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rudolf Ladenburg in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rudolf Ladenburg is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1882 births, 1952 deaths, 20th-century German physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rudolf Ladenburg outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rudolf Ladenburg in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is Rudolf Ladenburg in simple terms?

Why does Rudolf Ladenburg matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rudolf Ladenburg?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rudolf Ladenburg.