Ludwig Lange

Ludwig Lange (* June 21 1863 in Gießen; † July 12 1936 in Weinsberg) was a German physicist.

He studied mathematics, physics, and also psychology, epistemology, ethics at the University of Leipzig and the University of Gießen from 1882-1885. He was an assistant of Wilhelm Wundt from 1885-1887 and attained his PhD in 1886. After that he worked many years as a private scholar and in the field of Photography. Since 1887 he exhibited growing symptoms of a nervous disease. In 1936 he died in a Psychiatric hospital (Klinikum am Weissenhof) in Weinsberg. [Laue 1948, 1982]

Lange is known for inventing terms like inertial frame of reference and inertial time (1885), which were used by him instead of Newton's "absolute space and time". This was very important for the development of relativistic mechanics after 1900. DiSalle describes Lange's definition in this way: [DiSalle 2002]

References

*Cite journal
author=Laue, Max von
title=Dr. Ludwig Lange (1863-1936). Ein zu Unrecht Vergessener
journal=Die Naturwissenschaften
year=1948
issue=7
pages=193-196
doi=10.1007/BF00597616

*NDB|13|551|552|Lange, Ludwig|Max von Laue

*Cite book
author =Robert DiSalle
chapter =Space and Time: Inertial Frames
title =The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
editor=Edward N. Zalta
chapterurl=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2002/entries/spacetime-iframes/
year=Summer 2002

Publications

* Cite journal
author=Lange, L.
year=1885
title=Über die wissenschaftliche Fassung des Galileischen Beharrungsgesetzes
journal=Philosophische Studien
volume=2

* Cite journal
author=Lange, L.
year=1902
title=Das Inertialsystem vor dem Forum der Naturforschung
journal=Philosophische Studien
volume=20