Wilhelm Wien is best known for his studies of radiation. Of the two laws he developed dealing with this topic, one was later confirmed, and is now known as Wien's displacement law. The second law was later shown to be inadequate and was replaced by Max Planck's brilliant theoretical analysis of the quantum nature of energy emission. Although Wien never made discoveries later in life of the quality of those from his early career, he eventually became a highly respected leader of German science in the early part of the twentieth century.

Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz Wien was born on January 13, 1864, on his family's farm at Gaffken, near Fischhausen, in East Prussia. He was the only child of Carl Wien and the former Caroline Gertz, both descended from land-owning Prussian aristocracy. When Wien was two years old, the family moved to a smaller farm at Drachenstein...