Johann Philipp Reis ( German: Johann Philipp Reis ; January 7, 1834 , Gelnhausen , Grand Duchy of Hesse - January 14, 1874 , Friedrichsdorf , Germany ) is a German physicist and inventor who was the first to construct an electric telephone in 1860 , which in his honor is now called Flight telephone . This invention was first demonstrated to the public on October 25, 1861 .
| Johann Philippe Reis | |
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| Johann Philipp Reis | |
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| Date of Birth | January 7, 1834 |
| Place of Birth | Gelnhausen Grand Duchy of Hesse |
| Date of death | January 14, 1874 (aged 40) |
| Place of death | Friedrichsdorf , Germany |
| A country | |
| Occupation | , |
Content
Childhood and Youth
The origin of the Flight is still debated. Philippe's mother died when he was still a baby, and his paternal grandmother, a well-read and religious woman, was engaged in raising a child. At the age of six, Philip was sent to study at the Kassel school. Here his abilities attracted the attention of teachers, and Philip's father was advised to send his son to college. The father died when the child was not even ten years old, but Reis's grandmother, with the help of his guardians, managed to identify Philip at the Garnier Institute in Friedrichsdorf , where he showed interest in foreign languages and soon mastered English and French.
At age 14, Reis entered the Hassel Institute in Frankfurt , where he also mastered Latin and Italian. Philip was increasingly interested in science, and his guardians were advised to send the teenager to the Karlsruhe Polytechnic School; however, one of them, Philip's uncle, wanted him to become a merchant, and on March 1, 1850, Reis, against his will, was identified as a student at the J. F. Beyerbach paints selling company. Philip promised his uncle to do his chosen business, but without giving up his studies in science.
Thanks to hard work, Philip won the respect of Beuerbach, and in his free time he took private lessons in mathematics and physics and attended lectures on mechanics by Professor R. Bottger at the School of Commerce. When the practice of Reis in the trade craft was over, he began to study at the Dr. Poppe Institute in Frankfurt. Such subjects as history and geography were not taught here, so some students taught each other the basics of these sciences; so, Reis began to teach geography, considering it his vocation. Also at this time he became a member of the Society of Physicists in Frankfurt.
In 1855, Reis completed military service in Kassel and returned to Frankfurt, where he began to teach mathematics and other sciences, giving private lessons and giving public lectures. Reis wanted to go to Heidelberg University , but in 1858 his old friend and teacher Gofrad Garnier offered him a post at the Garnier Institute.
On September 14, 1859, Reis married and soon moved to Friedrichsdorf to begin his teacher career again.
Inventing the Phone
Reis believed that electricity spreads at a distance, like light, without material conductors, and set up several experiments on its theory. The results of the experiments were described by Reis in the article "In the Rays of Energy", which in 1859 was sent to Professor Poggendorff for inclusion in the famous journal " Annalen der Physik und Chemie ". To Reis' great disappointment, the manuscript was rejected.
The idea of transmitting sound using electricity was born when Reis studied the organs of hearing , and he considered it for several years. In 1860, Reis designed the first prototype phone, capable of transmitting sound at a distance of up to 100 meters. In 1862, Philip again wrote to Poggendorff - this time asking him to publish a report on the apparatus he had invented, but this report was also rejected. Professor Poggendorff denied the possibility of transmitting voice from a distance, like a pipe dream, but Reis believed that his articles were rejected only because he was a simple school teacher.
The invention, called the Telephon Flight, was demonstrated to many people, including Wilhelm von Legat, inspector of the Royal Corps of the Prussian Telegraph, but the Flight did not meet much interest. In 1872, the device was introduced in the United States by Professor Vandervide, where it aroused much greater interest. Among those who saw the first phone were Thomas Edison , representatives of Bell and Western Union . According to Professor David Hughes, one of the inventors of the carbon microphone, when he tested the Reis phone in 1865 in St. Petersburg, he was able to " successfully transmit and receive all musical tones and a few spoken words " [1] . The Flight device was the starting point for further developments of Bell, Edison and Berliner in this area.
Last Days of Flight
The flight stopped giving lessons and began to study scientific problems, but his state of health soon became a serious obstacle; however, Flight did not give up his studies. The disease struck the lungs, and Reis began to lose his voice. In the summer of 1873 he had to leave training for several weeks. In the fall, Philip's condition improved slightly, and he returned to teaching, but not for long. In September, Reis was supposed to introduce a new gravity machine at the congress of German natural scientists in Wiesbaden , but could not because of an illness. In December, he finally lay down and, after a long and painful illness, died in January 1874 , at five in the evening.
Flight wrote:
“Looking back over the past years, I must admit that they passed in“ labor and sorrows, ”as the scripture says. But I am grateful to God for his good deeds: for my calling and my family, as well as for giving me more happiness than I required. God has helped me before and will help me in the future. ”
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Philip Reis was buried in the Friedrichsdorf cemetery, and in 1878 , after the invention of the telephone, members of the Frankfurt Physicists Society installed a red sandstone obelisk with his portrait on his grave.