Gustav Kirchhoff (1824–1887) was a German physicist who is renowned for his contributions to electrical engineering and thermodynamics. He is best known for formulating Kirchhoff's circuit laws, which describe the behavior of electrical circuits in terms of current and voltage.
Articles by others on the same topic
A physicist who, with Robert Bunsen, developed spectrum analysis as a method of chemical identification. Their 1860 apparatus put a salt sample in a hot, weakly luminous flame and passed its light through a slit, a collimating telescope and a prism. A second telescope revealed characteristic bright lines. Comparing these lines made it possible to recognize an element even when its light was mixed with that of other substances, connecting laboratory spectroscopy with the analysis of distant light sources.[ref]
Chemical Analysis by Observation of Spectra by Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen. Opening discussion and apparatus description: flame, slit, two telescopes and carbon-disulfide prism
Portrait of Gustav Kirchhoff
. Source. 