From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff
(12 March 1824 ? 17 October 1887) was a
German
physicist
who contributed to the fundamental understanding of
electrical circuits
,
spectroscopy
, and
radiation
by heated objects. He coined the term
black body radiation
in 1862.
[1]
He proposed two sets of independent concepts in both circuit theory and thermal emission. They are all called '
Kirchhoff's laws
' after him, as well as a law of
thermochemistry
. The
Bunsen?Kirchhoff Award
for spectroscopy is named after him and his colleague,
Robert Bunsen
. He also discovered
rubidium
with Bunsen in 1861.
- ↑
A 'black body' is an idealised physical body which absorbs all
electromagnetic radiation
which strikes it, and reflects none. It is also the best possible emitter of thermal radiation (heat).