Felix Ehrenhaft
| Felix Ehrenhaft | |
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Felix Ehrenhaft
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| Born |
24 April 1879 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 4 March 1952 (aged 72) Vienna, Austria |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions | University of Vienna |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Doctoral advisor | Franz-Serafin Exner |
| Doctoral students |
Georg Stetter Walter Thirring |
| Notable awards |
Lieben Prize 1910 Haitinger Prize 1917 |
Felix Ehrenhaft (24 April 1879 – 4 March 1952) was an Austrian physicist who contributed to atomic physics, to the measurement of electrical charges and to the optical properties of metal colloids. He was known for his maverick and controversial style. His fearless iconoclasm was greatly admired by philosopher Paul Feyerabend. He won the Haitinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1917.
Ehrenhaft was born in Vienna to physician Leopold Ehrenhaft and Louise Eggar, the daughter of an Hungarian industrialist. Ehrenhaft earned his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1903, working on the optical properties of metallic colloids. He subsequently became assistant to Franz S. Exner.
In 1907, the reality of atoms was still disputed but Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski had both recently given accounts of Brownian motion in liquids, strongly supporting the atomic theory. Though Theodor Svedberg had made important demonstrations of Brownian motion in colloids, Ehrenhaft extended the work to make observations of particles of silver in air. The greater mean free path of air made for a sterner test of the reality of atoms. Ehrenhaft was awarded the Lieben Prize of the Vienna Academy of Sciences for his work.
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