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Charles-Eugène Guye

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Swiss physicist (1866–1942)
Charles-Eugène Guye
Charles-Eugène Guye at the 1927 Solvay Conference
Born(1866-10-15)October 15, 1866
Saint-Christophe, Switzerland
DiedJuly 15, 1942(1942-07-15) (aged 75)
Geneva, Switzerland
NationalitySwiss
Alma materUniversity of Geneva
Known forExperiments showing electron mass and speed dependence
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
Institutions

Charles-Eugène Guye (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl øʒɛn ɡi]; October 15, 1866 – July 15, 1942) was a Swiss experimental physicist noted for his experiments showing the dependence of the electron mass on its speed and attending the Solvay Conferences.

His older brother, Philippe-Auguste (1862–1922), was a distinguished chemist.

Life and Work

Guye was born in Saint-Christophe (Champvent) on 15 October 1866. He studied physics at the University of Geneva, where he received his doctorate in 1889, studying the phenomenon of optical rotatory dispersion.

From 1890 to 1892 Charles-Eugène worked as a Privatdozent (lecturer) in Geneva, and from 1894 to 1900 he was a Privatdozent at Zurich Polytechnic (now the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ETH Zurich), switching his research interests to electrical engineering. Albert Einstein was one of his students at the school. Starting in 1900 at the University of Geneva, Guye was professor of experimental physics and director of the Physics Institute. He retired in 1930 and was conferred by the University the title of "honorary professor."

His research focus was in the fields of electric currents, magnetism, and electrical discharges in gases. Starting in 1907 and continuing for over a decade, he and his students Simon Ratnowsky and Charles Lavanchy conducted experiments with cathode rays that demonstrated the dependence of the electron mass on its speed, with results supporting the predictions of Lorentz, Einstein, and the special theory of relativity against Max Abraham's rival theory of the electron.

Guye was president both of the Swiss Physical Society, from 1914-1916, and of the Société de Physique et d'Histoire naturelle de Genève. Furthermore, he was editor-in-chief of Archives des Sciences physiques et naturelles and member of the editorial board of Helvetica Physica Acta.

He participated in the 5th (Leiben, 1927) and 7th (Paris, 1933) Solvay Conferences, and was the author or co-author of over 200 papers in physics and several popular books, including philosophical works on the biological-physical-chemical basis of evolution and the limits of physics and biology.

Guye died in Geneva on Wednesday, 15 July 1942.

In 2017 the European Physical Society declared the Bastions building of the Geneva University as an EPS Historic Site in honor of the scientific achievements made by Guye and Ernst Stueckelberg in this building.

External links

References

  1. Wisniak, Jaime (2007). "Philippe-Auguste Guye". Revista CENIC. Ciencias Químicas. 38 (3): 415–422. ISSN 1015-8553.
  2. Lacki, Jan (2008). "Charles Eugène Guye et la relativité". Communications de la SSP (in French) (25): 14–17.
  3. "Genève: Nécrologie". Gazette de Lausanne (in French). 17 July 1942. p. 2. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  4. ^ Weigle, Jean (1943). "Charles-Eugène Guye: 1866—1942". Actes de la Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles (in French). 123.
  5. "Genève: Conseil d'Etat". Journal de Genève (in French). 19 March 1930. p. 5. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  6. Lacki, Jan; Yachin Karim (2005). "Replication of Guye and Lavanchy's experiment" (PDF). Archives des Sciences. 58: 159–170. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  7. Karim, Yacin (2011-05-12). Vers une vérification expérimentale de la théorie de la relativité restreinte : réplication des expériences de Charles-Eugène Guye (1907-1921) (PhD thesis thesis) (in French). Université Claude Bernard - Lyon I ; Université de Genève.
  8. Vos, Anton (2014). "Charles-Eugène Guye, un physicien qui a du flair". Campus (in French) (116). University of Geneva.
  9. "Genève: Nécrologie". Gazette de Lausanne (in French). 17 July 1942. p. 2. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  10. Lacki, Jan (2017). "An EPS Historic Sites Award celebrating two Genevan physicists" (PDF). Communications de la SSP (52): 32–35.
  11. "Uni Bastions déclaré "Historical Site" par la Société européenne de physique - Actualités - UNIGE". www.unige.ch (in French). 2017-03-21. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
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