94 de ani de la moartea sigheteanului care a fondat o facultate n Germania

De admin pe 9 Dec, 2014 la ora 23:27 | categorie: Editorial | Nici un comentariu

Faptul c n automobile folosim acumulatoare, c avem telefonie prin cablu, c facem "raze" la spital i
multe alte lucruri intrate n firescul cotidian se datoreaz n mare parte unui savant sighetean.

Friederich (Ferenc) Dolezalek s-a nscut la 5 februarie 1873 la Sighet, ntr-o

familie de ingineri de min i farmaciti de la care de mic a deprins tainele meseriei. Dup terminarea studiilor medii n oraul
natal, la vrsta de 20 de ani se nscrie la Technische Hochschule (coala Superioar Tehnic) din Hannover, apoi la
Universitatea din Gttingen, Germania, unde-l va avea profesor, apoi coleg i colaborator pe Walther Nernst, laureat al
Premiului Nobel pentru chimie.

nteresat deopotriv de chimie i de fizic (teza de doctorat susinut la vrsta de

numai 25 de ani este legat de termodinamica amestecurilor omogene), n anul 1896 breveteaz o invenie care va fi folosit
de Wihelm Conrad Roentgen n dezvotarea aparatului care-i poart i azi numele i este folosit n toate spitalele din lume.
Aparatul inventat de Friedrich Dolezalek este un electrometru-cuadrant utrasensibil, folosit printre altele la verificarea legilor
lui Ohm i la determinarea constanei dielectrice. Succesul inveniei i sporete elanul creativ i n anul urmtor elaboreaz
teoria acumulatoarelor cu plumb.

Din anul 1900 este invitat s lucreze n cercetare la Institutul de Fizic i Chimie din Berlin ca apoi, celebra firm Siemens &
Halske s-l angajeze pentru a dezvolta utilizarea telefoniei prin cablu la mare distan i utilizarea curentului alternativ.

ncepnd din anul 1904 l gsim profesor la diferite

universiti din Germania i director al Institutelor de Fizic din Gttingen i Charlottenburg din Berlin unde pune bazele
teoriei amestecurilor binare i a soluiior saturate. Intensa activitate de cercetare a savantului sighetean nu este ntrerupt nici
de Primul Rzboi Mondial, folosind perioada i investiiile militare pentru a pune bazele Institutului de Cercetri de Chimie,
Fizic i Electrochimie din Gttingen (foto) care-i va deschide porile n toamna anului 1919. Din pcate, marele savant
Friedrich Dolezalek nu s-a putut bucura prea mult de succesele institutului pentru c a murit la Berlin la 10 decembrie 1920,
exact n ziua n care fostului profesor, coleg, colaborator i prieten apropiat Walther Nernst i se decerneaz Premiul Nobel
pentru chimie.

Apreciat i respectat n cercurile tiinifice, lucrrile lui Friedrich Dolezalek sunt

studiate de studenii facultilor de fizic i chimie iar inveniie lui se afl la loc de cinste n muzeele din Germania, Sardinia,
Marea Britanie i SUA, numele de Friedrich Dolezalek figurnd alturi de cel al localitii natale, Sighetu-Marmaiei, n
enciclopediie de specialitate din ntreaga lume.

12.02.2008 10:39:43
Se implinesc 135 ani de la nasterea savantului Friedrich Doezalek, originar din
Sighet

Biography of Friedrich Dolezalek

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September 28, 2012 Leave a comment biography

Friedrich Dolezalek developed a very sensitive quadrant electrometer. Friedrich

Dolezalek was born 1873-02-05 in Marmaros-Sziget, Hungary. He studied chemical
and electrical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Hannover (1893 1895) and
was a student and coworker of Walther Nernst in Gottingen (1895 1900). He developed
a very sensitive (5 microvolt) quadrant electrometer (1896). His PhD thesis (1898) was
on the thermodynamics of homogeneous mixtures. Subsequently he worked on the theory
of the lead accumulator.
1900-11-01 Dolezalek started working with Friedrich Kohlrausch at the PhysikalischTechnische Reichsanstalt for about eight months.
1901-07-05 Dolezalek started working at Siemens & Halske on long distance telephone
cables and on other electrical engineering subjects related to alternating currents.
After his habilitation at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (Berlin) Dolezalek
became professor at the Technische Hochschule Danzig (Easter 1904). Already in
October 1904 Dolezalek was appointed extraordinary professor and director of the
Gottingen physicochemical institute as successor of Walther Nernst (1905 -1907).
In April 1907 Dolezalek was appointed professor of physics at the Technische
Hochschule Charlottenburg (Berlin) as successor of Heinrich Rubens. He worked on the
theory of binary mixtures and concentrated solutions. In October 1912 he changed to the
chemistry department and was appointed director of the electrochemical institute as
successor of Franz Fischer (who was appointed director of the newly founded KaiserWilhelm-Institut fur Kohlenforschung, Muhlheim).
Dolezalek initiated a new institute for physical chemistry and electrochemistry. Despite
the war (1914 1918) and with enormous support from industry the institute became
operational for the wintersemester 1919. However, Dolezalek could enjoy his new
institute only for about one year.

Friedrich Dolezalek died 1920-12-10 in Charlottenburg (Berlin) at age 47 (interestingly,

the very same day Walther Nernst was awarded the Nobel Prize).
Dolezalek quadrant electrometer
The electrometer is an instrument for measuring potential differences utilizing electrical
attraction or repulsion. Friedrich Dolezalek (1873-1920) invented this form of quadrant
electrometer using a quartz fiber suspension. A slight rotation of the electrodes is
registered as a motion of a light beam reflected from a small mirror mounted on the
suspension fiber.
The quadrant electrometer may be used to compare the EMF of two cells; verify Ohms
Law; measure a high resistance; compare large and small capacitances and determine
the dielectric constant. This is done by deflection of the aluminium vane via a difference
in the electric potential of the pairs of quadrants. The angle of deflection is measured by
shining a lamp on the mirror, which reflects the light onto a scale placed a certain
distance away. The instrument must be calibrated so that the scale used is accurate and its
sensitivity known but it draws no current from the circuit and is sensitive to a fraction of
a volt.
The Dolezalek quadrant electrometer differs from previous designs in several
respects:
1. The vane is lighter. It was usually made of paper coated with a thin layer of metal (e.g.
silver) although thin aluminum was sometimes used. Older vanes were solid metal.
2. The quadrants are smaller.
3. The mirror and vane were suspended by a metal coated quartz fiber rather than a
phosphor-bronze strip.
4. The Leyden jar beneath the quadrants has been eliminated.
Dolezalek quadrant electrometer: A light, two bladed aluminium vane is suspended in the
center of quadrant shaped boxes, the opposite pairs of which are connected to the same
potential on terminals under the base. The vane is attached to a light rod which carries a
small mirror suspended by a thin quartz fibre from the torsion head. A brass case with
window opposite the mirror completes the apparatus.
One more modification of the Dolezalek quadrant electrometer:
And one more example of the Dolezalek quadrant electrometer::
Quadrant electrometer
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co. Ltd,
England No 2376
.
Electrometer quadrants

A few more examples of the Dolezalek quadrant electrometer

A rather large (ca. 16 tall) and somewhat complex Dolezalek quadrant electrometer of
unknown manufacture. This electrometer has two sets ofelectrical connections for the
quadrants. There is one connection for each quadrant on the top of the body, and one
connection for each quadrant on the base. The support mechanism for the quadrants is
fairly complicated it allows a fine vertical adjustment of their height.
Large Dolezalek quadrant electrometer produced by W.G. Pye & Co. of Cambridge,
England. The body is entirely brass. The electrical connectionsfor the quadrants, not
visible in the photo, are on the bottom of the instrument.
Somewhat unusual Dolezalek quadrant electrometer of unknown manufacture (possibly
German). The body, and even the quadrants, are made of stainless steel.
The insulating posts supporting the quadrants are amber. The vane, not visible, is of
unknown construction opening the quadrants would requires a major disassembly.
The electrical connectionsfor the quadrants, not visible in the photo, are on the bottom of
the instrument.
Dolezalek quadrant electrometer manufactured by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument
Co. (UK). The vane is aluminum and the electrometer body is entirely made of brass.
Four synthetic amber insulating posts support the quadrants. The electrical connections to
the quadrants are on the top of the body, as is the control for the rod used to charge or
ground the vane.
The standard role of an electrometer in radiation measurements has been to measure the
extremely small currents produced by an ion chamber if the currents were sufficiently
large, a galvanometer could substitute for the electrometer. In the early 1900s the
Dolezalek quadrant electrometer, invented at more or less the same time that Roentgen
discovered x rays, was the instrument of choice. It employed a butterfly-shaped vane
suspended inside four brass quadrants.
As the collected charge from the ion chamber changed the electrical balance between the
quadrants and the vane, the latter rotated. A beam of light was reflected off a mirror
attached to the vanes suspension wire, and as the vane rotated, the reflected beam moved
across a scale, often positioned one meter away. The time it took the reflected beam of
light to move across a specific number of divisions on the scale served as a measure of
the ion chambers current.
Ernest Rutherford, Radioactive transformations. New York, 1906. Figure7: Dolezalek
electrometer
The Dolezalek electrometer might have been beautiful to look at, but it was difficult to
set up and susceptible to static electricity and vibrations. Ultimately, it would be replaced
by easier to use and less expensive devices such as the Wulf string electrometer (Wulf

1914) and the Lindemann torsion electrometer (1924). With these types of instruments,
the movement of a fine fiber across a scale was monitored using a microscope.