Geiger, Hans Wilhelm (1882 – 1945)He was German physicist, who invented the Geiger counter.
The son of philologist, Geiger was educated in the Universities of Munich and Erlangen where he obtained his PhD in 1906.
His first academic appointment took him to Manchester University as assistant to Professor Arthur Schuster (1851 – 1934).
In the following year Schuster was succeeded by Ernest Rutherford. In 1908, in cooperation with Rutherford, Geiger investigated the nature of the alpha particle, showing that it had a double positive charge.
Geiger also designed instrument capable of detecting and counting alpha particles.
These were the prototype of the counter Geiger developed in the 1920s with W. Muller, which has since become widely known as the Geiger counter (or Geiger Muller counter).
Geiger returned to Germany in 1912 to direct the Physikalisch-Technische Reichanstalt in Berlin.
He later held chairs of physics at the Universities of Kiel (1925-29) and Tubingen (1929-36).
In 1936, he was appointed head of physics at the Technical University, Charlottenburg.
Geiger, Hans Wilhelm (1882 – 1945)
