Bolometer
Bolómetro
- Date
- 1878 · confidence high
- Place
- Allegheny Observatory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- Credited to
- Samuel Langley
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
Langley built an instrument with blackened metal strips arranged in a Wheatstone bridge, able to detect the thermal radiation of an object a quarter of a mile away through the change in electrical resistance of the material. It became a key tool for infrared and submillimeter astronomy.
What it led to
- Infrared and submillimeter astronomy (Herschel, Planck)
- Particle physics detectors
- Thermal imaging cameras
Built on
- Wheatstone bridge1833 / 1843
- Galvanometer