Evangelista Torricelli
1643: Barometer
Torricelli was a student Galileo and developed the first mercury filled glass tube known as the ‘Barometer’. He is also known for writing ‘Torricelli’s law’ which centred on speed of a fluid flowing out of an opening.
Marcello Stefano Pirani
1906: Pirani Gauge
Pirani developed the first automatically reading gauge known as the ‘Pirani gauge’. He also worked on optical vacuum measurements of high temperatures.
Wolfgang Gaede
1878 – 1945
At the beginning of the 20th century, Wolfgang Gaede discovered several innovative vacuum principles while inventing vacuum pumps that are still common today: the rotary vane pump, the diffusion pump, the gas ballast, and the molecular pump.
Fernand Holweck
1920: Molecular Pump
French scientist Holweck made a significant impact on a range of activities such as x-rays, the gravimetric pendulum, electrons and the Holweck molecular vacuum pump which achieved vacuum levels of 10-6 mbar.
Pieter Clausing
1926 - 1933: The Beaming Effect
Clausing worked on a range of activities relating to vacuum physics such as the diffuse reflection of molecules from surfaces and the ‘beaming’ effect associated with molecules exiting tubes.
Manne Siegbahn
1944: Siegbahn Pump
Siegbahn was a Swedish physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1924 for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy. He was responsible for the development of the Siegbahn Pump.
Henry Wycliffe
1984: Edwards Dry Pump
Wycliffe worked with Edwards for 44 years and is best known for patenting the dry pump. Find out how this came about in this exclusive conversation.
