Background
Hans Geitel was born on July 16, 1855, in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany. His father was a forester.
Heidelberg University, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Geitel studied from 1875 to 1877 at Heidelberg.
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Geitel studied from 1877 until 1879 at Berlin, where he took the examination for secondary-school teaching.
Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
In 1899 Geitel received a Ph.D. honoris causa from the University of Göttingen.
Hans Geitel was born on July 16, 1855, in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany. His father was a forester.
Geitel studied from 1875 to 1877 at Heidelberg and from 1877 until 1879 at Berlin, where he took the examination for secondary-school teaching. In 1899, Geitel was awarded a Honorary Doctorate at the University of Göttingen. In 1915 he was awarded a honorary degree of the Braunschweig University of Technology.
From 1880 to 1920 Geitel taught mathematics and physics in Wolfenbüttel. He published almost all his works in collaboration with Elster. Following the latter’s death in 1920, Geitel published a paper on the photoelectric effect in very thin films of potassium, a topic which, like his earlier individual efforts, had been of interest to both. Geitel wrote several comprehensive reports on atmospheric electricity, radioactivity, and photoelectric methods of measurement. Of particular note is “Die Radioaktivität der Erde und der Atmosphäre,” in Handbuch der Radiologie. Following his retirement, he became an honorary professor at Brunswick. In 1910 Geitel represented Germany’s physicists on the International Radium Standard Commission in Paris.
In 1892 Geitel was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.