Gustav Kirchhoff

Kirchhoff made fundamental contributions to electrical-circuit theory, spectroscopy and black-body radiation, producing seminal work even while a student of the influential Neumann). He met his colleague, long-term collaborator and strong friend Bunsen when both were at Breslau, later following him to Heidelberg; Mendeleev, Meyer, Schröder, Auer von Welsbach, Kamerlingh Onnes and Roscoe were among their research students. Kirchhoff’s friend and former student Helmholtz ultimately enticed him to Berlin, where Planck (who admired him but found him dry) and Hertz also studied with him.