Physical Science Essay Example

Christian Doppler

1. Life and work. Christian Andreas Doppler, a famous physicist, mathematician and astronomer, was born on the 29th November, 1803 in Salzburg, Austria. At the age of 19 Christian Doppler entered the Polytechnishes Institut (nowadays Vienna University of Technology), where he studied physics and mathematics for several years. Then Doppler returned to Salzburg and studied philosophy for two years (Schuster 21).
After Doppler completed his education, he went back to Vienna in 1829. There Christian got a Job of assistant. In 1831, his first scientific article was published. His career went up, and in 1835 he got a place at the Prague Polytechnic. In 1842, Christian Doppler published his famous work "On the coloured light of the binary Stars and some other Stars of the heavens" and gave a lecture in the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences. In this work he provided an explanation of his principle that now we call Doppler effect. He gave a prove of dependence between the observer, the frequency of wave and the source relative speed. After this lecture Doppler got a membership of the Bohemian Society and became a world famous scientist (Schuster 33).
During his years in Prague, Doppler published more than 50 works on physics, astronomy and mathematics. In 1847, Christian Doppler left Prague. He got a post of professor in the Academy of Mines and Forests. And in 1848, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna. In 1850, Professor Christian Doppler reached the top of his academic career. He headed the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna and became the first director of the Institute of Physics.
Christian Doppler worked with great dedication. Unfortunately, his busy schedule became one of the reasons of pulmonary disease. In November 1852, Doppler had to go to Venice for treatment. He died after five months of illness on March 17, 1853 (Schuster 121).
2. The most important discovery. The Doppler effect became a key principle for such significant theories like Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Many modern devices work on the basis of Doppler effect. Nowadays, this is a key concept for such fields of knowledge as astronomy, space technology, military industry (radar stations and other equipment), nuclear physics, medicine, etc.
We can observe the Doppler effect for all types of waves (light, sound, etc.). For example, we notice a gradual change of a train hooter. When the train is coming closer, the sound is gradually becoming louder and vice versa (Hiebl 67).
On the basis of Doppler theory scientists measured the parameters of the Sun and planets rotation. This information helped to clarify the structure of space objects. Doppler principle is also used for calculations of satellites’ trajectories, for control of thermonuclear reactions, in air navigation. Finally, Doppler effect is widely spread in medicine. For example, there are many modern devices for ultrasound diagnostics based on this effect.
Doppler effect works even in those cases when the oscillation frequency is huge (for example, radiation) and the relative speeds of the source and the absorber are only millimeters per second. The energy of gamma rays changes by a very small amount due to the Doppler effect. It is used in nuclear gamma resonance spectroscopy (Mössbauer spectroscopy).
3. Doppler effect in modern science and technology. Today, scientists around the world continue the search for application of the Doppler effect. For example, physicist Martin Lavery and his team conducted an experiment with a plastic disk and spinning motor. During the experiment they measured the speed of disk’s rotation using the Doppler change in angular momentum (“Doppler effect goes for a spin”).
This technique can be used to design protection of wind turbines (swirling air currents can damage the engine). Lavery offers to use special sensors on the nose of the engine that would detect dangerous flows and switch the engine off.
Bo Thide, the scientist from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Uppsala, proposes to use the rotational Doppler effect for detecting forming tornadoes before they reach the earth. Thide used a similar method to detect the rotation rate of supermassive black holes (“Doppler effect goes for a spin”).
Ultrasonic scanning is a worldwide known application of Doppler effect in medical diagnosis. Nowadays, there are a lot of different devices based on this effect which are used in many areas of medical science and therapeutics. The first device was created by Japanese physicists Shiego Satomura and Ziro Kaneko in 1959 (Schuster). Since that time thousands of Doppler ultrasonic devices have been used for diagnostic of vascular dieses. Due to ultrasonic scanning medics managed to reduce the amount of invasive examinations which are often risky. An ultrasonic beam penetrates the biological tissue without any harmful effects.

Works cited

"Doppler Effect Goes for a Spin: Light's Angular Momentum Can Reveal Rotational Speed." The Free Library. 2013 Science Service, Inc. 22 Feb. 2015
Hiebl, Ewald. Christian Doppler - Life and Work, Principle and Applications: Proceedings of the Commemorative Symposia in 2003 - Salzburg, Prague, Vienna, Venice. Pöllauberg u.a.: Living Ed., 2007. Print.
Schuster, Peter. Moving the Stars: Christian Doppler, His Life, His Works and Principle, and the World after. Pöllauberg, Austria: Living Edition, 2005. Print.