Arthur Schuster

Sir Franz Arthur Friedrich Schuster was a German-born British physicist, born in Frankfurt am Main on 12 September 1851, known for his work in spectroscopy, electrochemistry, optics, X-radiography and the application of harmonic analysis to physics. Schusters integral is named after him. He was the son of a cotton merchant and banker, and in 1869 his father moved the family to Manchester, where the family textile business was based. He studied mathematics under Thomas Barker and physics under Balfour Stewart, began research with Henry Roscoe on the spectra of hydrogen and nitrogen, and went on to spend five years at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. In 1881 he was appointed to the Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics at Owens College, and he contributed to making the University of Manchester a centre for the study of physics. In 1913 he was elected to both the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.