Charles-Édouard Guillaume (French:[ʃaʁledwaʁgijom]; 15 February 1861 – 13 June 1938)[1] was a Swissphysicist who received theNobel Prize in Physics in 1920 "for the service he had rendered to precision measurements in physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel steelalloys".[1] In 1919, he gave the fifthGuthrie Lecture at theInstitute of Physics inLondon with the title "The Anomaly of the Nickel-Steels".[4]
Charles-Edouard Guillaume was born inFleurier, Switzerland, on 15 February 1861.[1] Guillaume received his early education inNeuchâtel, and obtained a doctoral degree in Physics atETH Zurich in 1883.[1][5]
Guillaume was married in 1888 to A. M. Taufflieb, with whom he had three children.[1]
He died on 13 June 1938 inSèvres, aged 77.He was a Christian.[6]
Guillaume is known for his discovery of nickel–steel alloys he namedinvar,[9]elinvar andplatinite [it], also known as red platinum. Invar has a near-zerocoefficient of thermal expansion, making it useful in constructing precision instruments whose dimensions need to remain constant in spite of varying temperature. Elinvar has a near-zero thermal coefficient of themodulus of elasticity, making it useful in constructing instruments with springs that need to be unaffected by varying temperature, such as themarine chronometer. Elinvar is also non-magnetic, which is a secondary useful property forantimagnetic watches.
Guillaume is also known for theearliest estimation of the "radiation of the stars” in his 1896 article"La Température de L'Espace" ("The Temperature of Space"). This publication made him a pioneer inplasma cosmology, the study of conditions far from any particular star.[10] The concept was later known as theCosmic microwave background.[11] He was one of the first people in history to estimate the temperature of space, as 5–6 K.[11]
As the son of a Swisshorologist, Guillaume took an interest inmarine chronometers. For use as thecompensation balance he developed a slight variation of the invar alloy which had a negative quadratic coefficient of expansion. The purpose of doing this was to eliminate the "middle-temperature" error of the balance wheel.[7] TheGuillaume balance (a type ofbalance wheel) inhorology is named after him.[12][13]
1898:Recherches sur le nickel et ses alliages (Investigations on Nickel and its Alloys)
1899:La vie de la matière (The Life of Matter)
1902: La Convention du Mètre et le Bureau international des Poids et Mesures (Metrical Convention and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures)
