Loránd Eötvös

In addition to Eötvös Loránd University^[3] and the Eötvös Loránd Institute of Geophysics in Hungary, the Eötvös crater on the Moon,^[4] the asteroid

Life

Born in 1848, the year of the Hungarian revolution, Eötvös was the son of the Baron József Eötvös de Vásárosnamény (1813–1871), a well-known poet, writer, and liberal politician, who was cabinet minister at the time, and played an important part in 19th century Hungarian intellectual and political life. His mother was the Hungarian noble lady Agnes Rosty de Barkócz (1825–1913), member of the illustrious noble family Rosty de Barkócz [hu] that originally hailed from the Vas county, and through this, he descended from the ancient medieval Hungarian noble Perneszy family, which died out in the 18th century. Loránd's uncle was Pál Rosty de Barkócz (1830–1874) was a Hungarian nobleman, photographer, and explorer, who visited Texas, New Mexico, Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela between 1857 and 1859.

Loránd Eötvös first studied law, but soon switched to physics and went abroad to study in

Eötvös is remembered today for his experimental work on

From 1886 until his death, Loránd Eötvös researched and taught in the University of Budapest, which in 1950 was renamed after him (Eötvös Loránd University).

Eötvös is buried in the

It was just a simple, straight stick that I used as instrument, specially loaded at both ends, enclosed into a metal sheath to protect it from the wind and temperature changes. Upon this stick every single mass, be it near or far, exerts a directing force; but the wire upon which it hangs resists, and whilst resisting it twists, with the degree of this twist showing us the exact magnitude of the forces acting upon the stick. This is a Coulomb balance, and that is all there is to it. It is simple, like the flute of Hamlet, you only have to know how to play on it, and just like the musician who can delight you with splendid variations, the physicist can, on this balance, with no less delight determine the finest variations of gravity. This way we can peer into such depth of the crust of the Earth, that neither our eyes, nor our longest drills could reach.[6]^[7]

One of Eötvös' assistants who later became a noted scientist was Radó von Kövesligethy.

Honors

To honor Eötvös, a postage stamp was issued by Hungary on 1 July 1932.^[8] Another stamp was issued on 27 July 1948 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the physicist.^[9] Hungary issued a postage stamp on 31 January 1991.^[10]

See also

• Eotvos, a unit of gravitational gradient
• List of geophysicists
• Lorándite, a mineral named after Loránd Eötvös

References