HELMHOLTZ, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von:
Helmholtz, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von (1821-1894). German physicist, anatomist, and physiologist. Military physician at Potsdam (1843-48); professor of physiology, Koenigsberg (1849), Bonn (1855), Heidelberg (1858), of physics, Berlin (1871); director of physicotechnical institute at Charlottenburg (1888). One of the founders of the principle of the conservation of energy, by virtue of his paper Ueber die Erhaltung der Kraft (1847); known for numerous other contributions to science, including determination of the velocity of nerve impulses (1850), invention of the ophthalmoscope (1851), investigation of the mechanisms of sight and hearing, development of a theory of color vision, study of the vortex motion of fluids, application of the principle of least action to electrodynamics, development of the theory of electricity, investigation of the motion of electricity in conductors. Published works included Tonempfindungenals physiologische Grundlage fuer die Theorie der Musik (1863), Zur Thermodynamik chemischer Vorgaenge (1882-83).
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