Abstract
THE career of this eminent physicist has not only been of importance for the advancement of physics, but also of the greatest benefit to the development of exact science in Holland. Born on November 18, 1831, at Breda, Bosscha was initiated in physics by van der Willigen, and entered the University of Leiden in 1850. His eminence as a student in different respects foreshadowed the leading position he occupied in later life. In Bosscha's later observational work the influence of the great astronomer Kaiser is evident. In March, 1852, he took his degree with a dissertation on the differential galvanometer, worked out in the Physical Laboratory at Leiden, then under the direction of Rijke. After a short stay at Berlin, he returned to this laboratory as assistant. Attention was soon directed to him by the vigorous part he took in the great scientific movement in connection with the law of conservation of energy. The most important problem dealt with in his well-known papers on the mechanical theory of electrolysis is the test of Kelvin's calculation of the electromotive force of a galvanic cell from the heat developed by the chemical processes which accompany the current. By determining in absolute measure the electromotive torce of the Daniell cell, he contributed to the work which ultimately led to the adoption of the C.G.S. system of electrical units. He gave a solution of multiplex telegraphy, and several rules and methods introduced by him have passed through the text-books into the electrotechnic practice.
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ONNES, H. Prof. Johannes Bosscha . Nature 86, 419–420 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/086419a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/086419a0
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