View source for Biography:Wojciech Rubinowicz

{{short description|Polish physicist}}
[[Image:Wojciech Rubinowicz 1954.png|thumb|Wojciech Rubinowicz (1954)]]

'''Wojciech Sylwester Piotr Rubinowicz'''<ref>He is known also as “Adalbert”, the German form of  the Polish name “Wojciech”</ref> (February 22, 1889 – October 13, 1974) was a Polish theoretical physicist who made contributions in [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanics]], [[Physics:Mathematical physics|mathematical physics]], and the theory of radiation. He is known for the Maggie-Rubinowicz representation of [[Biography:Gustav Kirchhoff|Gustav Kirchhoff]]’s diffraction formula.

==Life and career==
He was born in Sadagóra, [[Place:Bukovina|Bukovina]], in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Margaret Brodowska and Damian Rubinowicz, Polish patriot and insurgent of the January Uprising of 1863.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsnwF5v_RO0C&q=wojciech+Damian+Rubinowicz |title = The international who's who|isbn = 9780900362729|last1 = Limited|first1 = Europa Publications|year = 1974| publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref> In 1908, Rubinowicz began his studies at the University of Czernowitz, and he was awarded his doctorate in 1914. In 1916 he began postgraduate studies at the University of Munich under [[Biography:Arnold Sommerfeld|Arnold Sommerfeld]] and eventually becoming his assistant. In 1918, he became a [[Social:Privatdozent|Privatdozent]] at the University of Czernowitz. Two years later he took an appointment as professor at the [[Organization:University of Ljubljana|University of Ljubljana]], [[Place:Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. He became a professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Lwów, in 1922. During the period from 1937 to 1941, he was a professor at the John Casimir  University of Lwów.<ref>[http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PR/v54/i11/p931_1 Rubinowicz Pys. Rev. paper]</ref> After [[Social:World War II|World War II]], starting in 1946, he was professor of theoretical physics at the University of Warsaw until 1960.<ref>Mehra, 2001, p. 253.</ref> He served as president of the Polish Physical Society between 1949–1952 and 1961–1974.

While at Munich, Rubinowicz published contributions to radiation theory<ref>Adalbert Rubinowicz  ''Zur Quantelung der Hohlraumstrahlung'', ''Phys. Zs'' '''18''' (1917) 96-98. As cited in: Mehra, 2001, pp. 534 and 832.</ref> and to three of Sommerfeld’s major interests, i.e., Sommerfeld’s extension of Bohr’s theory of the atom<ref>Adalbert Rubinowicz  ''Die Eigenschwingungen des Bohr-Debyeschen Wasserstoffmoleküls bei Berüksichtigung der Bewegung der Kern'', ''Phys. Zs.'' '''18''' (1917) 187-195. As cited in: Mehra, 2001, p. 832.</ref><ref>Adalbert Rubinowicz  ''Bohrsche Frequenzbedingung und Erhaltung des Impulsmomentes. I Teil'', ''Phys. Zs.'' '''19''' (1918) 441-445. As cited in: Mehra, 2001, pp. 253-54 and 833.</ref><ref>Adalbert Rubinowicz  ''Bohrsche Frequenzbedingung und Erhaltung des Impulsmomentes. II Teil'', ''Phys. Zs.'' '''19''' (1918) 465-474. As cited in: Mehra, 2001, pp. 253-54 and 833.</ref> and both mathematical physics and diffraction theory;<ref name="Adalbert Rubinowicz 1917">Adalbert Rubinowicz, "Die Beugungswelle in der Kirchhoffschen Theorie de Beugungserscheinungen", ''Annalen der Physik'', 4th Series, '''53''' <!-- vol. 358, no. 12 --> (1917) 257–78; [https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.19173581202 doi.org/10.1002/andp.19173581202].<!-- As cited in:  Sommerfeld, ''Optics'', 1964, pp. 312-317. --></ref> he carried these topical interests throughout his career.<ref>Adalbert Rubinowicz  ''Zur Polarisation der Bohrschen Strahlung'', ''Phys. Zs.'' '''4''' (1921) 343-346. As cited in: Mehra, 2001, pp. 234 and 833.</ref><ref name="Adalbert Rubinowicz 1924 pp. 312-317">Adalbert Rubinowicz ''Annalen der Physik'' '''73''' (1924) 339. As cited in:  Sommerfeld, ''Optics'', 1964, pp. 312-317.</ref>  He eventually published books based on his mathematical physics interests as well as diffraction theory:  his work on the polynomial method of solving eigenvalue problems in quantum mechanics was described in "Sommerfeldsche Polynommethode"<ref name="Rubinowicz">[http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~bift/Rubinowicz_en.html Rubinowicz]  - University of Warsaw</ref> and his work on diffraction theory, was published in "Die Beugungswelle in der Kirchhoffschen Theorie der Beugung".<ref name="Rubinowicz"/>

Also while at Munich, Rubinowicz transformed the Kirchhoff diffraction integral into what has become known as the Rubinowicz representation (also known as the Maggie-Rubinowicz representation) for which scalar and electromagnetic fields are interpreted as a transformation of a surface integral into a line integral<ref name="Adalbert Rubinowicz 1917" /><ref name="Adalbert Rubinowicz 1924 pp. 312-317"/>  – an independent and slightly different derivation from that done in 1888 by G. A. Maggi,<ref>G. A. Maggi  ''Ann. di Mat.'' IIa '''16''' (1888) 21. As cited in:  [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v180/n4578/abs/180160a0.html Maggi] – Nature.</ref> one of Gustav Kirchhoff's students in Berlin. Rubinowicz’s form of the representation, as opposed to Maggi’s, is now more commonly accepted.<ref>[http://www.ee.ucla.edu/labs/photon/thesis/ThesisJaione.pdf Azpiroz – UCLA]</ref>

The circle of his disciples and associates included in Lwów Jan Blaton, Wanda Hanusowa, [[Biography:Roman Stanisław Ingarden|Roman Stanisław Ingarden]], Wasyl Milianczuk, Jerzy Rayski, Kazimierz Vetulani, in [[Place:Warsaw|Warsaw]] Bohdan Karczewski, Wojciech Królikowski, Adam Kujawski, Jan Petykiewicz, Jerzy Plebański.

He died in [[Place:Warsaw|Warsaw]], Poland.

==Books==
* Adalbert Rubinowicz  "Die Beugungswelle in der Kirchhoffschen Theorie der Beugung" (1957, 1966)
* Adalbert Rubinowicz  "Quantum Mechanics" (1968)
* Adalbert Rubinowicz "Sommerfeldsche Polynommethode: Die Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften in Einzeldarstellungen mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Anwendungsgebiete" (Polnischer Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1972)
* Adalbert Rubinowicz "Selected Papers" (Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, Warsaw 1975)

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* [[Biography:Jagdish Mehra|Mehra, Jagdish]], and [[Biography:Helmut Rechenberg|Helmut Rechenberg]] ''The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 1 Part 1 The Quantum Theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Sommerfeld 1900 – 1925: Its Foundation and the Rise of Its Difficulties.'' (Springer, 1982) {{ISBN|0-387-95174-1}}
* Arnold Sommerfeld, translated from the first German edition by Otto Laporte and Peter A. Moldauer "Optics - Lectures on Theoretical Physics Volume IV" (Academic Press, 1964)

==External links==
* [https://repository.aip.org/islandora/object/nbla:271348#page/1/mode/2up Interview American Institute of Physics 18th May 1963]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinowicz, Wojciech}}
[[Category:Quantum physicists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Wojciech Rubinowicz}}