Leopold Pfaundler

Biography

He studied under chemist Heinrich Hlasiwetz (1825–1875) at Innsbruck, with Justus von Liebig (1803–1873) at the University of Munich, and with Henri Victor Regnault (1810–1878) and Charles Adolphe Wurtz (1817–1884) in Paris. In 1861 he received his doctorate, and in 1867 was appointed professor of physics at the University of Innsbruck. In 1891 he succeeded Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906) as professor of physics at the University of Graz. In 1887 he became a full member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences.

Pfaundler is remembered today for his kinetic-molecular explanation of gas reactions under the condition of equilibrium. He was the inventor of a number of scientific apparatuses — devices he often utilized in classroom demonstrations. These included a temperature regulator (1863), a Stromkalorimeter (1869), a differential air thermometer (1875), a seismograph (1897) and a distance meter (1915), to name a few. He is also credited with creating a device for optical demonstration of Lissajous figures (1873).

In 1863–64 he performed a survey of the Stubaier Alps with Ludwig Barth zu Barthenau (1839–1890), and in 1864 he was the first person to ascend to the summit of the Hofmannspitze (3112m).