Physicist — Georg Wilhelm Richmann (Pärnu, 1711 – Saint Petersburg, 1753) was a Baltic-German physicist active in Russia, a member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He devoted himself to the quantitative study of electrical and thermal phenomena, in particular calorimetry, working out a formula for the equilibrium temperature of mixtures of water at different temperatures. Following Franklin’s experiments on lightning, he studied atmospheric electricity, attempting to measure it with apparatus connected to metal rods. He remains a significant figure in eighteenth-century experimental physics, although his name is chiefly linked to the dramatic circumstances of his death.
Curiosity
Richmann was killed by lightning in 1753 while observing a thunderstorm with an apparatus for measuring atmospheric electricity: a bolt (probably a globular discharge) struck him, perhaps making him the first person in history to die while conducting an electrical experiment.
Theories and contributions
- Richmann’s law (calorimetry) — The equilibrium temperature of a mixture of water masses is the weighted average of their temperatures: .
Present in chapters
Linked atoms
1 linked atom.