Eugene Goldstein

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Eugene Goldstein (September 5, 1850 – December 25, 1930) was a German physicist. He was an early researcher in X-rays.

Johann Wilhelm Hittorf observed tubes with energy rays extending from a negative electrode. These rays produced a fluorescence when they hit the glass walls of the tubes. In 1886 the effect was named "cathode rays" by Goldstein.

In 1886, Goldstein noted that cathode-ray tubes with a perforated cathode emit a glow from the end of the tube near the cathode. Goldstein concluded that in addition to the electron, or cathode rays, that travel from the negatively charged cathode toward the positively charged anode, there is another ray that travels in the opposite direction, from the anode toward the cathode. Because these rays pass through the holes, or channels, in the cathode, Goldstein called them canal rays.

Goldstein's atomic theory was very similar to the modern one, but because of differing opinions of his colleagues, he was (and is) widely ignored.

He was buried in the Weißensee Cemetery.

He also worked as a Jewish Immigration lawyer