August Toepler

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Toepler electrostatic generator.
Toepler electrostatic generator.
Toepler mercury air pump.
Toepler mercury air pump.

August Joseph Ignaz Toepler (September 7, 1836, Brühl bei Bonn - March 6, 1912, Dresden) was a German physicist known for his experiments in electrostatics. In 1864 he applied Foucault's knife-edge test for telescope mirrors to the analysis of fluid flow and the shock wave. He named this new method schlieren photography, for which he is justifiably famous. He also developed the Toepler machine, an electrostatic influence machine, in 1865 for use in X-ray photography. Improved versions were produced by Wilhelm Holtz, Roger and J. Robert Voss.

Toepler's son Maximilien Toepler was also a physicist, and worked independently in the same field.

[edit] References

  • P. Krehl and S. Engemann, "August Toepler - the first who visualized shock waves," 1995.
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