Inventory no. 24226 - Former Display Label
GEISSLER TUBES
Late 19th century
Tubes of a variety of shapes, of different types of glass, some partly exhausted, others with different gases, while others again contain minerals. The early tubes had platinum electrodes, but these were replaced by aluminium at the turn of the century. Included with this set, a small Ruhmkorff (induction) coil.
In the 1850s H. Geissler, a German glassblower, who worked with Plücker at Bonn University, developed the vacuum tube with sealed platinum electrodes named after him, and improved the mercury vacuum pump. The tubes were used to demonstrate the nature of electric discharges in gases and partial vacuums, including the phenomenon of 'electro-luminescence' (fluoresescence). In the 1860s many famous scientists investigated these phenomena, including Plücker and Hittorf in Germany, Crookes and Spottiswoode in England. It revealed the behaviour of ionized gases and cathode rays, and in 1895 resulted in Roentgen's discovery of X-rays.
These tubes were generally activated by an induction coil, but other high-potential sources like the Wimshurst were also used.
Other narratives:
- Physics Glassware Exhibition, Basement Gallery, 2001-2: General Label
- Physics Glassware Exhibition, Basement Gallery, 2001-2: 'Assortment of Geissler tubes'