Biography:Wilhelm Nusselt

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Wilhelm Nusselt
Ernst Kraft Wilhelm Nußelt
File:Professor Nusselt in seinem Amtszimmer Karlsruhe April 1925.jpg
Nusselt in his office at Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe, April 1925
Born(1882-11-25)25 November 1882
Nuremberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died1 September 1957(1957-09-01) (aged 74)
Munich, West Germany
Alma materTechnische Hochschule München
Known for
Awards
  • Gauss Medal of Braunschweig Scientific Society
  • Grashof Commemorative Medal of the VDI
  • Elected member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
FieldsThermodynamics, heat transfer, combustion
Institutions
  • Technische Hochschule München
  • Technische Hochschule Dresden
  • Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe
ThesisDie Wärmeleitfähigkeit von Wärmeisolierstoffen (1907)
Doctoral advisorOskar Knoblauch

Ernst Kraft Wilhelm Nusselt (1882–1957) was a German engineer and professor whose work helped establish modern heat-transfer theory. His nondimensionalization of convective heat transfer led to a widely used framework for correlating heat-transfer data, including the dimensionless group now called the Nusselt number. He also made important contributions to the theory of laminar film condensation and coupled heat and mass transfer. He spent most of his career at Technische Hochschule München.

Early life and education

Nusselt was born on 25 November 1882 in Nuremberg, where his father was a factory owner. After completing his primary education in Nuremberg, Nusselt studied mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule München and at the Technische Hochschule (Berlin-)Charlottenburg, receiving his Dipl.-Ing. (engineering diploma) in 1904 from Technische Hochschule München.[1][2] He then joined the Laboratory of Technical Physics at Technische Hochschule München and studied mathematics and physics while working in Oskar Knoblauch's laboratory. He obtained his Dr.-Ing. from the same institution in 1907, writing his thesis Die Wärmeleitfähigkeit von Wärmeisolierstoffen ("The thermal conductivity of thermal insulation materials").[1]

From 1907 to 1909, Nusselt served as an assistant to the thermodynamicist Richard Mollier at Technische Hochschule Dresden.[1] There, he habilitated in 1909 with the work Der Wärmeübergang in Rohrleitungen ("Heat transfer in pipes"), which laid the foundation for his later publication on dimensional analysis.[1] His habilitation thesis included careful experiments on carbon dioxide, air, and lighting gas (Leuchtgas).[3]

Career

Between 1909 and 1911, Nusselt worked in the heat technology division of Sulzer Brothers in Winterthur, Switzerland. In 1913, he returned to Dresden, where he was appointed as extraordinary professor (außerplanmäßiger Professor). In 1918 he joined Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF) in Ludwigshafen, and beginning in 1919 he also lectured as a Privatdozent at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.[1][2][4]

In 1920, Nusselt was appointed full professor at Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe.[5] In 1925, he took up the chair of theoretical mechanical engineering (theoretische Maschinenlehre) at Technische Hochschule München, and he became the co-director of the Laboratory for Heat Engines (jointly with August Loschge).[1][5][6] He held these positions until his retirement in 1952.[1][5] He was succeeded by another student of Knoblauch, Ernst Schmidt.[2][6]

Scientific and technical contributions

While at Dresden, Nusselt nondimensionalized the equations governing convective heat transfer, including both forced convection and natural convection, in a paper published in 1915.[2] His approach reduced an array of experimental parameters (such as fluid properties, velocities, and dimensions) into a much smaller number of variables that could be directly compared across different experiments and laboratories.[2] This framework created a means of correlating heat-transfer data that has been used extensively and is a standard topic in heat-transfer textbooks.[7]

The Nusselt number, now widely used in heat-transfer engineering, appeared as an unnamed group in his 1915 paper and was formally named in his honor by the Association of German Engineers (VDI) in 1931.[5][8] In that paper, Nusselt also identified the groups now called the Grashof number, the Prandtl number, and the Reynolds number.[2][3]

In 1933, A. P. Colburn used the term "Nusselt number" in his paper on convection correlations.[9] In 1936, Sieder and Tate wrote that they correlated data "using dimensionless groups after the manner of Nusselt".[10] The Nusselt number was added to American Standards Association nomenclature in 1943.[11]

Nusselt's 1915 paper included a correlation for a horizontal pipe cooling in air, which (in modern variables) shows the Nusselt number varying as the Grashof number to the power 0.26,[12] close to the modern accepted value of 0.25.[7] In a 1917 paper, Nusselt applied his method to gas flow in pipes. He found that (in modern variables) the Nusselt number is proportional to the Reynolds number to the power 0.786,[13] close to the value of 0.8 reported in several independent studies during the 1930s.[7]

In 1916, Nusselt published a model of the condensation of steam into a liquid film on a cooled surface, which identified the condensate film as the principal resistance to heat flow.[5] His theory of laminar film condensation is in good agreement with experiments, and it has also become a standard part of textbooks on heat transfer.[7]

Nusselt described coupled heat and mass transfer processes in a 1916 paper on pulverized-coal combustion. That work set the direction for subsequent research in the area, and it contributed to the early development of the analogy between heat transfer and mass transfer.[1][5] In 1930, Nusselt published a comprehensive study showing the equivalence of the differential equations governing heat transfer and evaporation.[3] He also recognized that the nonzero surface velocity in the presence of mass transfer limits the full equivalence of heat and mass transfer.[3]

Nusselt studied falling film evaporators, then gaining use in the chemical industry, first during his time at BASF, and more formally during his professorship at Karlsruhe in the early 1920s.[3] The method followed his approach to film condensation, and a subsequent dissertation under his supervision extended the approach to horizontal tubes and tube bundles.[3]

By 1911, Nusselt had mathematically analyzed cross-flow heat exchangers, as found in automobile radiators. He returned to the problem in a 1930 paper that gave a rigorous analysis of the governing differential equations.[3]

Nusselt also wrote a two-volume textbook on technical thermodynamics, published in 1934 (volume 1) and 1944 (volume 2).[1]

At Munich, Nusselt supervised many dissertations on internal combustion engines throughout the 1930s and again after World War II.[3] He also explored the causes of knock in Otto engines.[5] In all, Nusselt guided about 40 doctoral dissertations.[5]

Recognition

In 1922, Nusselt was appointed to the board of trustees (Kuratorium) of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) in recognition of his work.[5] The PTR was Germany's national institute for metrology and physical-technical research, and its board included leading physicists of the era.[14] The PTR's board was dissolved in 1935 by its president, Johannes Stark — a Nobel laureate and ardent National Socialist — who sought to impose the Führerprinzip on the institution.[14]

Nusselt received honorary doctorates from the Technische Hochschule der Freien Stadt Danzig (in the Free City of Danzig) in 1929 and from the Technische Hochschule Dresden in 1953.[4][5]

His other honors included the Gauss Medal of the Braunschweig Scientific Society and the Grashof Commemorative Medal of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI), both in 1951.[3][5] In 1953, he was elected a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.[1][5]

Personal life

Nusselt married Susanne Thürmer (1892–1971) on 12 December 1917. They had two daughters and a son.[2][4]

Nusselt enjoyed mountain climbing throughout his life. His son Dietrich was also a mountaineer; in 1947, he fell to his death from the east wall of the Riffelkopf.[2]

Nusselt died in Munich on 1 September 1957.[2] In his memorial article, Ernst Schmidt — who succeeded Nusselt at Munich — alluded to his stance during the Nazi period: "Nußelts aufrechter Charakter und seine klare kritische Art erlaubten keine Konzessionen an das vergangene Regime. Aller äußere Schein war seinem Wesen fremd." ("Nusselt's upright character and his clear-sighted, critical nature permitted no concessions to the past regime. All outward pretense was alien to his nature.")[5]

Selected works

  • Nusselt, Wilhelm (1915). "Das Grundgesetz des Wärmeüberganges" (in de). Gesundheits-Ingenieur (National Research Council of Canada) 38 (42–43): 477–482, 490–496. 1957. https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/fulltext/?id=36494c75-ac61-4b40-b5cc-12fb6484532b. 
  • Nusselt, Wilhelm (1916). "Die Oberflächenkondensation des Wasserdampfes" (in de). Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure 60 (27–28): 541–546, 569–575. 
  • Nusselt, Wilhelm (1934) (in de). Technische Thermodynamik. Sammlung Göschen. 1: Grundlagen. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter. 
  • Nusselt, Wilhelm (1944) (in de). Technische Thermodynamik. Sammlung Göschen. 2: Theorie der Wärmekraftmaschinen. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Grigull, Ulrich (1999). "Nusselt (Nußelt), Wilhelm" (in de). Neue Deutsche Biographie. 19. Duncker & Humblot. pp. 380–381. https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd127187626.html#ndbcontent. Retrieved 26 May 2026. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Lienhard, John H. (1974). "Nusselt, Ernst Kraft Wilhelm". in Gillispie, Charles C.. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 10. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 162–163. https://engines.egr.uh.edu/sites/engines/files/talks/Nusselt.pdf. Retrieved 25 May 2026. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Kling, G. (1952). "Aus der Entwicklungsgeschichte der Wärmeübergangslehre: Wilhelm Nußelt zum 70. Geburtstag" (in de). Chemie Ingenieur Technik 24: 597–608. doi:10.1002/cite.330241102. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Nusselt, Ernst Kraft Wilhelm" (in de). Hessische Biografie. Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). https://lagis.hessen.de/de/personen/hessische-biografie/alle-eintraege/8421_nusselt-ernst-kraft-wilhelm. Retrieved 26 May 2026. 
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 Schmidt, E. (1957). "Wilhelm Nusselt" (in de). Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure 99: 1741–1742. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c2607909?urlappend=%3Bseq%3D437%3Bownerid%3D120557628-503. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "History". Technical University of Munich. https://www.epc.ed.tum.de/en/td/history/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lienhard IV, John Henry; Lienhard V, John Henry (2024). A Heat Transfer Textbook (6th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Phlogiston Press. https://ahtt.mit.edu. 
  8. ↑ Jakob, M. (1931). (in de)Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure 75: 969–971. 
  9. ↑ Colburn, Allan P. (1933). "A method of correlating forced convection heat-transfer data and a comparison with fluid friction". Transactions of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 29: 174–206. 
  10. ↑ Sieder, E. N.; Tate, G. E. (1936). "Heat transfer and pressure drop of liquids in tubes". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry 28 (12): 1429–1435. doi:10.1021/ie50324a027. 
  11. ↑ American Standards Association. Sectional Committee on Letter Symbols and Abbreviations for Science and Engineering, Z10 (1943) (in en). American Standard Letter Symbols for Heat and Thermodynamics Including Heat Flow. ASA Z10.4-1943. New York: American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 
  12. ↑ Nusselt, Wilhelm (1915). "Das Grundgesetz des Wärmeüberganges" (in de). Gesundheits-Ingenieur (National Research Council of Canada) 38 (42–43): 477–482, 490–496. 1957. https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/fulltext/?id=36494c75-ac61-4b40-b5cc-12fb6484532b. 
  13. ↑ Nusselt, Wilhelm (1917). "Der Wärmeübergang im Rohr" (in de). Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure 61: 685–689. https://archive.org/details/zeitschrift-des-vereines-deutscher-ingenieure-61.1917-teil-2. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 (in de) PTR und PTB: Geschichte einer Institution. Braunschweig: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. December 2018. https://www.ptb.de/cms/fileadmin/internet/presse_aktuelles/broschueren/geschichte_ptb/PTR_und_PTB_Geschichte_einer_Institution.pdf. Retrieved 31 May 2026. 



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