Gabriel Lippmann

Lippmann in 1908

Born| (1845-08-16)16 August 1845

Hollerich, Luxembourg

Died| 12 July 1921(1921-07-12) (aged 75)

Atlantic Ocean

Nationality| French
Education| Lycée Napoléon
Alma mater|

* École normale supérieure
* University of Heidelberg
* University of Paris (PhD)

Known for|

* Lippmann plate
* Lippmann electrometer
* Integral photography
* Piezoelectricity

Awards|

* Legion of Honour (1881, 1894, 1900, 1919)
* ForMemRS (1896)
* Nobel Prize in Physics (1908)

Scientific career
Fields| Wave optics
Institutions| University of Paris
(1878–1921)
Thesis| Relations entre les phénomènes électriques et capillaires (1875)
Doctoral advisors|

* Jules Jamin
* Gustav Kirchhoff

Doctoral students|

* Constantin Miculescu (1891)[1]
* Pierre Curie (1895)[1]
* Marie Curie (1903)[1]
* Jean Lecomte (1924)[1]

Other notable students| Paul Langevin[1]
Signature

Gabriel Lippmann (/ˈlɪpmən/ LIP-muhn;[2] 16 August 1845 – 12 July 1921) was a French applied physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908 for his invention of the first colour photographic plate.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Biography
* 2 Inventions and theories
* 2.1 Capillary electrometer
* 2.2 Piezoelectricity
* 2.3 Colour photography
* 2.4 Integral photography
* 2.5 Measurement of time
* 2.6 The coelostat
* 2.7 Brownian ratchet
* 3 Awards and honours
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 Further reading
* 7 External links

## Biography

Gabriel Lippmann was born on 16 August 1845 to French Jewish parents in Hollerich, Luxembourg,[4] where his father managed a glove-making business.

In 1848, the family moved to Paris, where Lippmann was initially tutored by his mother, before entering the Lycée Napoléon (now the Lycée Henri-IV) in 1858. He was said to have been a rather inattentive but thoughtful pupil with a special interest in mathematics. In 1868, he was admitted to the École normale supérieure, where he failed the agrégation examination—which would have enabled him to enter the teaching profession—preferring instead to study physics.

In 1873, the French government sent Lippmann on a scientific mission to Germany to study methods of teaching science. He worked with Wilhelm Kühne and Gustav Kirchhoff at the University of Heidelberg, receiving a doctorate with summa cum laude distinction in 1874.[5] The following year, he made a brief visit to Hermann von Helmholtz at the University of Berlin, before returning to Paris. On 24 July 1875, he submitted his doctoral thesis on electrocapillarity to the Sorbonne.[6]

Professor Lippmann in the Sorbonne laboratory for research in physics (Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, NuBIS)

In 1878, Lippmann joined the Faculty of Science at the Sorbonne. In 1883, he became Professor of Mathematical Physics, and in 1886 was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics. The same year, he succeeded Jules Jamin as Director of the Research Laboratory, which was subsequently transferred to the Sorbonne.[7][8][9][10]

In 1888, Lippmann married the daughter of the novelist Victor Cherbuliez.[4]

Lippmann died at sea, when he was on the return voyage from Canada to France, on 12 July 1921 at the age of 75.[11]

## Inventions and theories

### Capillary electrometer

Main article: Biology:Lippmann electrometer

Lippmann electrometer

One of Lippmann's early discoveries was the relationship between electrical and capillary phenomena, which allowed him to develop a sensitive capillary electrometer—subsequently known as the Lippmann electrometer—which was used in the first ECG machine. In a paper delivered to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow on 17 January 1883, John Gray McKendrick described the apparatus as follows:

Lippmann's electrometer consists of a tube of ordinary glass, 1 metre long and 7 millimetres in diameter, open at both ends, and kept in the vertical position by a stout support. The lower end is drawn into a capillary point, until the diameter of the capillary is .005 of a millimetre. The tube is filled with mercury, and the capillary point is immersed in dilute sulphuric acid (1 to 6 of water in volume), and in the bottom of the vessel containing the acid there is a little more mercury. A platinum wire is put into connection with the mercury in each tube, and, finally, arrangements are made by which the capillary point can be seen with a microscope magnifying 250 diameters. Such an instrument is very sensitive; and Lippmann states that it is possible to determine a difference of potential so small as that of one 10,080th of a Daniell. It is thus a very delicate means of observing and (as it can be graduated by a compensation-method) of measuring minute electromotive forces.[12][13]

### Piezoelectricity

In 1881, Lippmann predicted the converse piezoelectric effect.[14]

### Colour photography

A colour photograph made by Lippmann in the 1890s. It contains no pigments or dyes of any kind.

Above all, Lippmann is best remembered as the inventor of a method for reproducing colours by photography, based on the interference phenomenon, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908.[8]

In 1886, Lippmann's interest turned to a method of fixing the colours of the solar spectrum on a photographic plate. On 2 February 1891, he announced to the French Academy of Sciences: "I have succeeded in obtaining the image of the spectrum with its colours on a photographic plate whereby the image remains fixed and can remain in daylight without deterioration."[15] By April 1892, he was able to report that he had succeeded in producing colour images of a stained glass window, a group of flags, a bowl of oranges topped by a red poppy and a multicoloured parrot. He presented his theory of colour photography using the interference method in two papers to the Academy, one in 1894, the other in 1906.[5]

A standing wave. The red dots are the wave nodes.

The interference phenomenon in optics occurs as a result of the wave propagation of light. When light of a given wavelength is reflected back upon itself by a mirror, standing waves are generated, much as the ripples resulting from a stone dropped into still water create standing waves when reflected back by a surface such as the wall of a pool. In the case of ordinary incoherent light, the standing waves are distinct only within a microscopically thin volume of space next to the reflecting surface.

Lippmann made use of this phenomenon by projecting an image onto a special photographic plate capable of recording detail smaller than the wavelengths of visible light. The light passes through the supporting glass sheet into a very thin and nearly transparent photographic emulsion containing sub microscopically small silver halide grains. A temporary mirror of liquid mercury in intimate contact with the emulsion reflects the light back through it, creating standing waves whose nodes has little effect while their antinodes create a latent image. After development, the result is a structure of lamellae, a very fine fringe pattern in distinct parallel layers composed of submicroscopic metallic silver grains, which is a permanent record of the standing waves. Throughout the emulsion, the spacing of the lamellae corresponds to the half-wavelengths of the light photographed; λ/(2n), λ being the wavelength of light in air and n is the refractive index of the emulsion. Thus colour information is stored locally. The larger the separation between the fringes, the longer was the wavelength recorded from the image colour, red being the longest.[10]

The finished plate is illuminated from the front at a nearly perpendicular angle, using daylight or another source of white light containing the full range of wavelengths in the visible spectrum. At each point on the plate, light of approximately the same wavelength as the light which has generated the lamellae is strongly reflected back toward the viewer. Light of other wavelengths which was not absorbed or scattered by the silver grains is simply passed through the emulsion, usually to be absorbed by a black anti-reflection coating applied to the back of the plate after it had been developed. The wavelengths, and therefore the colours, of the light which had formed the original image are thus reconstituted and a full-colour image is seen.[16][17][18]

In practice, the Lippmann process is not easy to use. Extremely fine-grained high-resolution photographic emulsions are inherently much less light-sensitive than ordinary emulsions, so long exposure times are required. With a lens of large aperture and a very brightly sunlit subject, a camera exposure of less than one minute is sometimes possible, but exposures measured in minutes are typical. Pure spectral colours reproduced brilliantly, but the ill-defined broad bands of wavelengths reflected by real-world objects can be a problem. The process does not produce colour prints on paper and it proved impossible to make a good duplicate of a Lippmann colour photograph by rephotographing it, so each image is unique. A very shallow-angled prism was usually cemented to the front of the finished plate to deflect unwanted surface reflections, and this made plates of any substantial size impractical. The size of his early photographs are 4 cm by 4 cm, increased later to 6.5 cm by 9 cm.[10] The lighting and viewing arrangement required to see the colours to best effect preclude casual use. Although the special plates and a plate holder with a built-in mercury reservoir were commercially available for a few years c. 1900, even expert users found consistent good results elusive and the process never graduated from being a scientifically elegant laboratory curiosity. It did, however, stimulate interest in the further development of colour photography.[18]

Lippmann's process foreshadowed laser holography, which is also based on recording standing waves in a photographic medium. Denisyuk reflection holograms, often referred to as Lippmann–Bragg holograms, have similar lamellar structures that preferentially reflect certain wavelengths. In the case of actual multiple-wavelength colour holograms of this type, the colour information is recorded and reproduced just as in the Lippmann process, except that the highly coherent laser light passing through the recording medium and reflected back from the subject generates the required distinct standing waves throughout a relatively large volume of space, eliminating the need for reflection to occur immediately adjacent to the recording medium. Unlike Lippmann colour photography, however, the lasers, the subject, and the recording medium must all be kept stable to within one quarter of a wavelength during the exposure in order for the standing waves to be recorded adequately or at all.

### Integral photography

In 1908, Lippmann introduced what he called "integral photography", in which a plane array of closely spaced, small, spherical lenses is used to photograph a scene, recording images of the scene as it appears from many slightly different horizontal and vertical locations. When the resulting images are rectified and viewed through a similar array of lenses, a single integrated image, composed of small portions of all the images, is seen by each eye. The position of the eye determines which parts of the small images it sees. The effect is that the visual geometry of the original scene is reconstructed, so that the limits of the array seem to be the edges of a window through which the scene appears life-size and in three dimensions, realistically exhibiting parallax and perspective shift with any change in the position of the observer.[19] This principle of using numerous lenses or imaging apertures to record what was later termed a light field underlies the evolving technology of light field cameras and microscopes.

When Lippmann presented the theoretical foundations of his "integral photography" in March 1908, it was impossible to accompany them with concrete results. At the time, the materials necessary for producing a lenticular screen with the proper optical qualities were lacking. In the 1920s, promising trials were made by Eugène Estanave, using glass Stanhope lenses, and by Louis Lumière, using celluloid.[20] Lippmann's integral photography was the foundation of research on 3D and animated lenticular imagery and also on color lenticular processes.

### Measurement of time

In 1895, Lippmann evolved a method of eliminating the personal equation in measurements of time, using photographic registration, and he studied the eradication of irregularities of pendulum clocks, devising a method of comparing the times of oscillation of two pendulums of nearly equal period.[4]

### The coelostat

Lippmann also invented the coelostat, an astronomical tool that compensated for the Earth's rotation and allowed a region of the sky to be photographed without apparent movement.[4]

### Brownian ratchet

In 1900, Lippmann proposed what is later called the Brownian ratchet, as a purely mechanical version of Maxwell's demon, purportedly showing that the kinetic theory of gases is incompatible with the second law of thermodynamics.[21][22]

## Awards and honours

In 1908, Lippmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference".

Lippmann was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour on 29 December 1881, promoted to Officer on 2 April 1894, to Commander on 14 December 1900, and to the dignity of Grand Officer on 6 December 1919.[23]

Lippmann was elected a Member of the French Academy of Sciences on 8 February 1886, and served as its president in 1912.[24] In addition, he was a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, a Member of the Bureau des Longitudes,[4] and a Member of the Grand Ducal Institute in Luxembourg. He became a Member of the Société française de photographie (French Photography Society) in 1892 and served as its president from 1896 to 1899.[25] He was one of the founders of the Institut d'optique théorique et appliquée (Institute of Theoretical and Applied Optics). He was President of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) from 1903 to 1904.[26]

In Luxembourg City, the Gabriel Lippmann Public Research Centre was named after him, which merged on 1 January 2015 with another major research centre to form the current Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.[27]

## See also

* Autostereoscopy
* Brownian ratchet
* Light field camera
* List of Jewish Nobel laureates

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Gabriel Lippmann - Physics Tree". https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=51966.
2. ↑ "Lippmann". Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lippmann.
3. ↑ "Gabriel Lippmann | French physicist". 12 August 2023. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gabriel-Lippmann#ref78915.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Gabriel Lippmann". Nobel Foundation. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1908/lippmann-bio.html.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jacques Bintz, "Gabriel Lippmann 1845–1921", in Gabriel Lippmann: Commémoration par la section des sciences naturelles, physiques et mathématiques de l'Institut grand-ducal de Luxembourg du 150e anniversaire du savant né au Luxembourg, lauréat du prix Nobel en 1908 (Luxembourg: Section des sciences naturelles, physiques et mathématiques de l'Institut grand-ducal de Luxembourg en collaboration avec le Séminaire de mathématique et le Séminaire d'histoire des sciences et de la médecine du centre universitaire de Luxembourg, 1997), Jean-Paul Pier & Jos. A. Massard: éditeurs, Luxembourg 1997. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
6. ↑ "About Gabriel Lippmann". http://www.crpgl.lu/index.php?id=37&L=2.
7. ↑ Josef Maria Eder, History of Photography, 4th ed. (New York: Dover, 1978; ISBN 0-486-23586-6), p. 668\. (This Dover edition reproduces the Columbia University Press edition of 1945; the book was originally published in 1932 as Geschichte der Photographie.)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967
9. ↑ See also the extensive biography on The Nobel Prize in Physics 1908 page.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Bjelkhagen, Hans I. (2008). "Lippmann, Gabriel Jonas (1845–1921) French scientist and physicist". in Hannavy, John (in en). Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 132, 320, 647, 808, 862–3, 990–1, 1183, 1433–4. ISBN 978-0-415-97235-2. OCLC 123968757.
11. ↑ "Gabriel Lippmann, Scientist, Dies at Sea", The New York Times, 14 July 1921.
12. ↑ John G. M'Kendrick, "Note on a Simple Form of Lippmann's Capillary Electrometer useful to Physiologists".
13. ↑ See also a similar description in German at "Kapillārelektromēter", Meyers Konversationslexikon, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig und Wien, 1885–1892. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
14. ↑ Lippmann, G. (1881). "Principe de la conservation de l'électricité" (in fr). Annales de chimie et de physique 24: 145. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k348640.
15. ↑ Gabriel Lippmann's colour photography: science, media, museums. Hanin Hannouch. Amsterdam. 2022. ISBN 978-94-6372-855-3. OCLC 1304814408.
16. ↑ Bolas, T. et al: A Handbook of Photography in Colours, Marion & Co. (London, 1900):45–59 (Retrieved from archive.org on 11 February 2010)
17. ↑ Wall, E. J.: Practical Color Photography, American Photographic Publishing Co. (Boston, 1922):185–199 (Retrieved from archive.org on 5 September 2010)
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Klaus Biedermann, "Lippmann's and Gabor's Revolutionary Approach to Imaging", Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
19. ↑ Lippmann, G. (2 March 1908). "Épreuves réversibles. Photographies intégrales". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 146 (9): 446–451. Bibcode: 1908BSBA...13A.245D. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3100t/f446.image. Reprinted in Benton "Selected Papers on Three-Dimensional Displays".
20. ↑ Timby, Kim (2015). 3D and Animated Lenticular Photography: Between Utopia and Entertainment. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 81–84. ISBN 978-3-11-041306-9.
21. ↑ "La théorie cinétique des gaz et le principe de Carnot" (in fr). Monatshefte für Mathematik und Physik 14 (1): A24. 1903-12-01. doi:10.1007/BF01706937. ISSN 1436-5081.
22. ↑ Hoffmann, Peter M (2016-03-01). "How molecular motors extract order from chaos (a key issues review)". Reports on Progress in Physics 79 (3). doi:10.1088/0034-4885/79/3/032601. ISSN 0034-4885. PMID 26863000. Bibcode: 2016RPPh...79c2601H. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/79/3/032601.
23. ↑ "LIPPMANN, Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel". Government of the French Republic. https://www.leonore.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/ui/notice/236048.
24. ↑ "Les Membres de l'Académie des sciences depuis sa création (en 1666)" (in fr). Académie des sciences. http://www.academie-sciences.fr/membres/in_memoriam/in_memoriam_liste_alphabetique_L.htm.
25. ↑ Daniel Girardin, "La photographie interférentielle de Lippmann, méthode parfaite et oubliée de reproduction des couleurs", published in DU, die Zeitschrift der Kultur, no 708 : Fotografie, der lange Weg zur Farbe, Juillet-août 2000. Musée de l'Élysée. Script error: The function "in_lang" does not exist. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
26. ↑ Bulletin de la Société astronomique de France, 1911, vol. 25, pp. 581–586
27. ↑ Annuaire du Luxembourg 2015, publ. Editus, p264

## Further reading

* Gabriel Lippmann's colour photography: science, media, museums. Hanin Hannouch. Amsterdam. 2022. ISBN 978-94-6372-855-3. OCLC 1304814408.
* J.P. Pier & J.A. Massard (eds) (1997):Gabriel Lippmann: Commémoration par la section des sciences naturelles, physiques et mathématiques de l'Institut grand-ducal de Luxembourg du 150e anniversaire du savant né au Luxembourg, lauréat du prix Nobel en 1908. Luxembourg, Section des sciences naturelles, physiques et mathématiques de l'Institut grand-ducal de Luxembourg en collaboration avec le Séminaire de mathématique et le Séminaire d'histoire des sciences et de la médecine du centre universitaire de Luxembourg, 139 p.
* Lebon, Ernest, "Savants du jour : biographie, bibliographie analytique des écrits", comprenant Portrait de Gabriel Lippmann. – 1911. p. 70, Gauthier-Villars (Paris), 1909–1913.
* Isabelle Bergoend, Le Dagobert optique, Editions Thierry Marchaisse, 2015.

## External links

| Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gabriel Lippmann (category)

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* Miss nobel-id as parameter  including the Nobel Lecture, 14 December 1908 Colour Photography
* Gabriel Lippmann in Jewish Encyclopedia
* Centre de Recherche Public – Gabriel Lippmann

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* e

Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physics

1901–1925|

* 1901: Röntgen
* 1902: Lorentz / Zeeman
* 1903: Becquerel / P. Curie / M. Curie
* 1904: Rayleigh
* 1905: Lenard
* 1906: J. J. Thomson
* 1907: Michelson
* 1908: Lippmann
* 1909: Marconi / Braun
* 1910: Van der Waals
* 1911: Wien
* 1912: Dalén
* 1913: Kamerlingh Onnes
* 1914: Laue
* 1915: W. L. Bragg / W. H. Bragg
* 1916
* 1917: Barkla
* 1918: Planck
* 1919: Stark
* 1920: Guillaume
* 1921: Einstein
* 1922: N. Bohr
* 1923: Millikan
* 1924: M. Siegbahn
* 1925: Franck / Hertz

1926–1950|

* 1926: Perrin
* 1927: Compton / C. Wilson
* 1928: O. Richardson
* 1929: De Broglie
* 1930: Raman
* 1931
* 1932: Heisenberg
* 1933: Schrödinger / Dirac
* 1934
* 1935: Chadwick
* 1936: Hess / C. D. Anderson
* 1937: Davisson / G. P. Thomson
* 1938: Fermi
* 1939: Lawrence
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943: Stern
* 1944: Rabi
* 1945: Pauli
* 1946: Bridgman
* 1947: Appleton
* 1948: Blackett
* 1949: Yukawa
* 1950: Powell

1951–1975|

* 1951: Cockcroft / Walton
* 1952: Bloch / Purcell
* 1953: Zernike
* 1954: Born / Bothe
* 1955: Lamb / Kusch
* 1956: Shockley / Bardeen / Brattain
* 1957: C. N. Yang / T. D. Lee
* 1958: Cherenkov / Frank / Tamm
* 1959: Segrè / Chamberlain
* 1960: Glaser
* 1961: Hofstadter / Mössbauer
* 1962: Landau
* 1963: Wigner / Goeppert Mayer / Jensen
* 1964: Townes / Basov / Prokhorov
* 1965: Tomonaga / Schwinger / Feynman
* 1966: Kastler
* 1967: Bethe
* 1968: Alvarez
* 1969: Gell-Mann
* 1970: Alfvén / Néel
* 1971: Gabor
* 1972: Bardeen / Cooper / Schrieffer
* 1973: Esaki / Giaever / Josephson
* 1974: Ryle / Hewish
* 1975: A. Bohr / Mottelson / Rainwater

1976–2000|

* 1976: Richter / Ting
* 1977: P. W. Anderson / Mott / Van Vleck
* 1978: Kapitsa / Penzias / R. Wilson
* 1979: Glashow / Salam / Weinberg
* 1980: Cronin / Fitch
* 1981: Bloembergen / Schawlow / K. Siegbahn
* 1982: K. Wilson
* 1983: Chandrasekhar / Fowler
* 1984: Rubbia / Van der Meer
* 1985: von Klitzing
* 1986: Ruska / Binnig / Rohrer
* 1987: Bednorz / Müller
* 1988: Lederman / Schwartz / Steinberger
* 1989: Ramsey / Dehmelt / Paul
* 1990: Friedman / Kendall / R. Taylor
* 1991: de Gennes
* 1992: Charpak
* 1993: Hulse / J. Taylor
* 1994: Brockhouse / Shull
* 1995: Perl / Reines
* 1996: D. Lee / Osheroff / R. Richardson
* 1997: Chu / Cohen-Tannoudji / Phillips
* 1998: Laughlin / Störmer / Tsui
* 1999: 't Hooft / Veltman
* 2000: Alferov / Kroemer / Kilby

2001–
present|

* 2001: Cornell / Ketterle / Wieman
* 2002: Davis / Koshiba / Giacconi
* 2003: Abrikosov / Ginzburg / Leggett
* 2004: Gross / Politzer / Wilczek
* 2005: Glauber / Hall / Hänsch
* 2006: Mather / Smoot
* 2007: Fert / Grünberg
* 2008: Nambu / Kobayashi / Maskawa
* 2009: Kao / Boyle / Smith
* 2010: Geim / Novoselov
* 2011: Perlmutter / Riess / Schmidt
* 2012: Wineland / Haroche
* 2013: Englert / Higgs
* 2014: Akasaki / Amano / Nakamura
* 2015: Kajita / McDonald
* 2016: Thouless / Haldane / Kosterlitz
* 2017: Weiss / Barish / Thorne
* 2018: Ashkin / Mourou / Strickland
* 2019: Peebles / Mayor / Queloz

* v
* t
* e

1908 Nobel Prize laureates

Chemistry|

* Ernest Rutherford (Great Britain and New Zealand)

Literature|

* Rudolf Christoph Eucken (Germany)

Peace|

* Klas Pontus Arnoldson (Sweden)
* Fredrik Bajer (Denmark)

Physics|

* Gabriel Lippmann (France)

Physiology or Medicine|

* Élie Metchnikoff (Russia)
* Paul Ehrlich (Germany)

Nobel Prize recipients
1990

2000

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