Astro*Dictionary
by Michael Erlewine
1 article for
"Balmer, Johann Jakob"
(1825-1898) Swiss mathematician and physicist. Born at Lausen, Basel-Land; died at Basel.
Although lines in the solar spectrum appear to be randomly distributed, the lines of an individual element exhibit more regular patterns. In 1885, Balmer devised a simple formula that gave the wavelengths of all the series. It was entirely empirical, and no physical model was available to support it on theoretical grounds. That model had to await the work of Niels Bohr.
See also:
♦ Light Spectrum ♦ Wavelength
Astro*Index Copyright © 1997 Michael Erlewine
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