Gustav Theodor Fechner

William James, Gustav Fechner, and Early Psychophysics

American psychologist and philosopher William James devoted the entirety of his career to exploring the nature of volition, as expressed by such phenomena as will, attention, and belief. As part of that endeavor, James's unorthodox scientific pursuits, from his experiments with nitrous oxide and hallucinogenic drugs to his investigation of spiritualist mediums, represent his attempt to address ...

Weber-Fechner Law

Several models have been proposed in the field of psychophysics to quantify relationships between any stimulus (e.g., touch, sound, light, and smell) and the perceived response by individuals. One such model is referred to as the Weber-Fechner Law. The Weber −Fechner Law, however, is not one law, but two separate laws: Weber's Law and Fechner's Law. Moreover, not all human senses respond to sti...

Gustav Mie: the person.

About 25 years ago, when I became acquainted with the name Gustav Mie, I was unable to find an entry for him in such major encyclopedias as the Britannica or even in several listings of famous scientists [T. I. Williams, A Biographical Sketch of Scientists (Wiley, New York, 1967); J. Turkevich and L. Turkevich, Prominent Scientists of Continental Europe (Elsevier, New York, 1968)]. This puzzled...

Symphony # 9 by Gustav Mahler

The recording of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony you are going to hear today was made during performance in Vienna on January 16, 1938, almost exactly thirty years ago. Bruno Walter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The recording was published on 78 rpm disks and thus filled 20 sides. Numerous rather intricate procedures of splicing were used by Carl Volkers in his attempt to provide ...

Emil Theodor Kocher 1841 – 1917