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Paul Karl Ludwig Drude ( ; ; 12 July 1863 – 5 July 1906) was a German physicist specializing in optics. He is known for the Drude model.
Drude graduated the year Heinrich Hertz began publishing his findings from his experiments on the Electromagnetism theories of James Clerk Maxwell, thus Drude began his career at the time Maxwell's theories were being introduced into Germany.Jungnickel, 1990b, p. 167.
His first experiments were the determination of the optical constants of various solids, measured to unprecedented levels of accuracy. He then worked to derive relationships between the optical and electrical constants and the physical structure of substances. In 1894, he was responsible for introducing the symbol c for the speed of light in a perfect vacuum.
Toward the end of his tenure at Leipzig, Drude was invited to write a textbook on optics, which he accepted. The book, Lehrbuch der Optik,The book was translated into English by C. R. Mann and Robert Millikan and published in 1902, under the title The Theory of Optics. (Jungnickel, 1990b, p. 171.) As of 2006, Dover Publishing still offers the 1902 translation. published in 1900, brought together the formerly distinct subjects of electricity and optics, which was cited by Drude as an "epoch-making advance in natural science".Jungnickel, 1990b, p. 171.
In 1900, Drude became the editor of Annalen der Physik, the most respected physics journal at that time. The same year, he developed a powerful model to explain the thermal, electrical, and optical properties of matter; this is known as the Drude model. In 1901, he was appointed Professor Ordinarius of Physics at the University of Giessen.
In 1905, Drude became Director of the Physics Institute at the University of Berlin. In 1906, at the height of his career, he became a Member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. A few days after his inauguration lecture, for inexplicable reasons, he committed suicide. He was survived by his wife and children.
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