Vladimir Ignatowski

Vladimir Sergeyevitch Ignatowski , or Waldemar Sergius von Ignatowski, or Ignatowsky (* March 8/20, 1875 in Tbilisi, Georgia; † January 13, 1942 in Leningrad), was a Russian physicist.

Life and work

Ignatowski graduated in 1906 in Saint Petersburg. From 1906-1908 he continued to study at the University of Giessen, with his dissertation in 1909. From 1911-1914 he taught at the Higher Technical School in Berlin. [Thomas F. Glick, ed., The Comparative Reception of Relativity (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1987), ISBN 9027724989.] Afterwards he worked for different institutions in the soviet union. Then he became a corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn reported in his book The Gulag Archipelago, that Ignatowski was put under arrest by soviet officials, who raised absurd allegations against him. It was claimed that Ignatowski was recruited by the German secret service in 1909, not to spy in the next war (World War I), but to spy in the "war after the next war" (World War II). So Ignatowski was executed in 1942 in Leningrad. Solschenizyn, 1973, The Gulag Archipelago, Volume 2]

Ignatowski wrote some papers on special relativity (SR). In 1910 he was to first who tried to derive the Lorentz transformation by group theory and without the postulate of the constancy of the speed of light. According to Wolfgang Pauli and Miller, Ignatowski was unable to identify the invariant speed in their transformation with the speed of light, therefore they claimed that both both postulates are needed to derive the Lorentz transformation. However, others continued the attempts to derive special relativity without the light postulate. He also investigated the status of rigid bodies within SR, and (erroneously) concluded that velocities greater than the speed of light are possible. However, the idea of the rigid body within SR was later rejected. [Cite book
last=Miller, A.I.
year=1981
title= Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905–1911)
location= Reading
publisher=Addison–Wesley
isbn=0-201-04679-2]

Ignatowski is also known for his work in the field of optics, whereby he founded the only optical-mechanical facility in the soviet union.

References

Publications

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Reflexion elektromagnetisches Wellen an einem Draht
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=323
year=1905
issue=13
pages=495–522
doi=10.1002/andp.19053231305

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Berichtigung zu der Arbeit: Reflexion elektromagnetischer Wellen an einem Draht
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=323
year=1905
issue=15
pages=1078
doi=10.1002/andp.19053231517

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Diffraktion und Reflexion, abgeleitet aus den Maxwellschen Gleichungen
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=328
year=1907
issue=10
pages=875–904
doi=10.1002/andp.19073281005

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Berechnung des Widerstandes eines Drahtes bei der Reflexion von elektromagnetischen Wellen
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=328
year=1907
issue=10
pages=905–906
doi=10.1002/andp.19073281006

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Diffraktion und Reflexion, abgeleitet aus den Maxwellschen Gleichungen
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=330
year=1908
issue=1
pages=99–117
doi=10.1002/andp.19083300108

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Diffraktion und Reflexion, abgeleitet aus den Maxwellschen Gleichungen
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=331
year=1908
issue=10
pages=1031–1032
doi=10.1002/andp.19083311012

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Der starre Körper und das Relativitätsprinzip
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=338
year=1910
issue=13
pages=607–630
url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k153366/f621.table
doi=10.1002/andp.19103381309

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Einige allgemeine Bemerkungen über das Relativitätsprinzip
journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift
volume=11
year=1910
pages=972–976

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Bemerkung zu der Arbeit: Der starre Körper und das Relativitätsprinzip
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=339
year=1911
issue=2
pages=373–375
url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15337j/f389.table
doi=10.1002/andp.19113390209

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Zur Elastizitätstheorie vom Standpunkt des Relativitätsprinzips
journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift
volume=12
year=1911
pages=164–169

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Über Überlichtgeschwindigkeit in der Relativitätstheorie
journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift
volume=12
year=1911
pages=776–778

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Über totale Reflexion
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=342
year=1912
issue=5
pages=901–910
doi=10.1002/andp.19123420504

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v. & Oettinger, E.
title=Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Totalreflexion
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=342
year=1912
issue=5
pages=911–922
doi=10.1002/andp.19123420505

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Zur Theorie der Gitter
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=349
year=1914
issue=11
pages=369–436
doi=10.1002/andp.19143491103

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Zur Theorie der Beugung an schwarzen Schirmen und Erwiderung an F. Kottler
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=319
year=1925
issue=14
pages=589–643
doi=10.1002/andp.19253821402

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Zur Theorie der Beugung an schwarzen Schirmen
journal=Annalen der Physik
volume=388
year=1927
issue=15
pages=977–978
doi=10.1002/andp.19273881506

*Cite journal
author=Ignatowsky, W. v.
title=Über doppelpolige Lösungen der Wellengleichung
journal=Mathematische Zeitschrift
volume=34
year=1932
pages=1–34
url=http://www.digizeitschriften.de/resolveppn/GDZPPN002372983
doi=10.1007/BF01180574

See also

*History of special relativity