Heinrich Gustav Magnus

Gustav Magnus
Heinrich Gustav Magnus
Born	(1802-05-02)2 May 1802 Berlin, Brandenburg, HRE
Died	4 April 1870(1870-04-04) (aged 67) Berlin, Germany
Nationality	German
Fields	Chemistry and physics
Institutions	Berlin University
Alma mater	Berlin University Sorbonne
Doctoral advisor	Eilhard Mitscherlich
Doctoral students	Hermann Knoblauch August Kundt Emil Warburg Gustav Wiedemann
Other notable students	Wilhelm von Beetz Rudolf Clausius Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz Hermann Helmholtz Gustav Karsten Alexander Mitscherlich Arthur von Oettingen Georg Hermann Quincke Edward Schunck Adolf Wüllner
Known for	Magnus effect Magnus' green salt

Wilhelm von Beetz
Rudolf Clausius
Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff
Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz
Hermann Helmholtz
Gustav Karsten
Alexander Mitscherlich
Arthur von Oettingen
Georg Hermann Quincke
Edward Schunck

Heinrich Gustav Magnus (2 May 1802 – 4 April 1870) was a notable experimental scientist. His training was mostly in chemistry but his later research was mostly in physics. He spent the great bulk of his career at the University of Berlin, where he is remembered for his laboratory teaching as much as for his original research. He did not use his first given name, and was known throughout his life as Gustav Magnus.

Magnus was born in Berlin to a Jewish family, his father a wealthy merchant. In his youth he received private instruction in mathematics and natural science. At the University of Berlin he studied chemistry and physics, 1822–27, and obtained a doctorate for a dissertation on tellurium in 1827. His doctoral adviser was Eilhard Mitscherlich. He then went to Stockholm for a year as a visiting research fellow at the laboratory of Jöns Jakob Berzelius (who was a personal friend of Mitscherlich). That was followed by a year in Paris at the laboratory of Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard. Therefore, he had a first-rate education in experimental science when in 1831 he was appointed lecturer in physics and technology at the University of Berlin. In 1834 he became assistant professor, and in 1845 was appointed full professor, and later he was elected the dean of the faculty.