Alfred Kleiner
| Alfred Kleiner | |
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Dr Alfred Kleiner (1849-1916). Source: Image Archive ETH-Bibliothek Zurich.
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| Born |
April 24, 1849 Maschwanden, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Died | July 3, 1916 (aged 67) |
| Residence | Switzerland |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Fields | Physicist |
| Institutions | University of Zurich |
| Alma mater | University of Zurich |
| Doctoral advisor | Johann Jakob Müller |
| Doctoral students | Albert Einstein |
| Other notable students | Fritz Laager Theodor Erismann |
| Known for | Work on statistical physics |
Alfred Kleiner (April 24, 1849 – July 3, 1916) was a Swiss physicist and Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Zurich. He was Albert Einstein's doctoral advisor or Doktorvater. Initially Einstein's advisor was H. F. Weber. However, they had a major falling out, and Einstein chose to switch to Kleiner.
He received his PhD in 1874 from the University of Zurich, for a thesis entitled Zur Theorie der intermittirenden Netzhautreizung (On the theory of intermittent retinal irritation), under Johann Jakob Müller.
Alfred Kleiner was professor of physics at the University of Zurich. He also held several other positions and titles throughout his career, including: Privatdozent (private lecturer) in 1870, Außerordentlicher Professor (Associate Professor) in 1880, Ordentlicher Professor (Full Professor) in 1885, Rektor (Chancellor) from 1908 to 1910, Honorarprofessor (Emeritus Professor) in 1915, and Privatdozent from 1875 to 1885 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, also called Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich or ETH (the "Polytechnikum", also at Zurich).
In the early 1890s, with his students Fritz Laager and Theordor Erismann Kleiner conducted experiments to determine if changes in gravitational attraction could be caused by shielding. No effect greater than the experimental error was observed. Kleiner published his results on this in 1905, Laager in 1904, and Erismann in 1908 and 1911. Their work on this was motivated by the papers by Louis Winslow Austin and Charles Burton Thwing.
Einstein’s controversy with Paul Drude took place in the middle of 1901. It was at this time that Einstein transitioned from Weber to Kleiner and changed his dissertation topic from thermoelectricity to molecular kinetics.
Until 1909 the ETH was not authorized to grant doctoral degrees, so a special arrangement enabled ETH students to obtain doctorates from the University of Zurich. At that time, most dissertations in physics by ETH students were carried out under the supervision of H.F. Weber, Einstein’s former teacher at the Polytechnikum, as it was then called. The University of Zurich had only one physics chair, held by Alfred Kleiner. His main research was focused on measuring instruments, but he also had an interest in the foundations of physics.
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