HERMAN HELMHOLTZ (1821-1894)

1. Herman Helmholtz is celebrated for his contributions to physiology and theoretical physics. A delicate child, Helmholtz early displayed a passion for understanding things, but otherwise developed slowly, and had no marked early talent for mathematics. Although he wished to study physics, he was persuaded by his father to take up the study of medicine, entering the Medical Institute at Berlin in 1838.

2. His researches into physiological optics began about 1850 with the discovery of the ophthalmoscope (185l), followed by investigations into colour, including the problem of colour-blindness. He also made fundamental contribution to the understanding of the structure and mechanism of the human eye.

3. Helmholtz's first and most celebrated paper in theoretical physics was his article on the conservation of force. In this paper he proved the conservation of total energy of a system of particles which were interacting through central forces depending only on the masses and separations of the particles. Other important work in theoretical physics included the famous paper on vortex motion (1858), and the application to electrodynamical problems.

4. Helmholtz was undoubtedly the most versatile of nineteenth-century scientists. From 1871 onwards he was perhaps more famous as a theoretical physicist than as a physiologist, but it seems probable that apart from his work on the conservation of energy he will ultimately be remembered more for his epoch-making researches in physiological optics and acoustics in which his talents as physiologist, physicist, mathematician and experimentalist of genius were most vividly displayed.

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For what researches will Helmholtz be remembered?

1. for his celebrated paper in theoretical physics.

2. for his epoch-making researches in physiological optics, and acoustics.

1. for his paper on vortex motion.