Background
Hans was born October 27, 1900, in Amriswil, canton Thurgau, Switzerland. His father was Ernst Müller and mother Mathilde Meier.
Hans was born October 27, 1900, in Amriswil, canton Thurgau, Switzerland. His father was Ernst Müller and mother Mathilde Meier.
Hans attended school in Frauenfeld and proceeded in 1919 to Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. He graduated with a teacher"s diploma for science and mathematics in 1923.
He created the Mueller calculus. In graduate work his advisors were Peter Debye and Paul Scherrer. In 1925 Mueller and Debye set out for a visit to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mueller was offered a position as instructor and in time became a popular professor
In 1928 he submitted his dissertation, On the Theory of Electric Charge and Coagulation of Colloids to Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule for the doctorate in physics. In 1935 he was promoted to associate professor
As a Guggenhiem Fellow he was at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University in 1937-1938. In 1942 he became a full professor
In research, Mueller measured luminous intensity and studied polarization of light.
He wrote several papers on Rochelle salts. The development of his matrix calculus was initially classified but he made an exposition to the Optical Society of America in 1948. His student Nathan Grier Park III wrote a thesis, Matrix Optics expounding the method.
Hans Mueller died June 10, 1965, in Belmont Massachusetts.
Fellow John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, 1937. Member American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Physical Society, American Optical Society, Sigma Xi, New York Academy Science.
Married Inez M. Jansson, May 28, 1929.