German physicist. As professor of chemistry at Berlin University he made important discoveries in the fields of acids and gases, and in 1853 he described the Magnus effect - the sideways force experienced by a spinning ball which is responsible for the swerving of golf or tennis balls when hit with a slice.
Heinrich Gustav Magnus (May 2, 1802 – April 4, 1870) was a German chemist and physicist.
He was born in Berlin. In 1831 he returned to Berlin as lecturer on technology and physics at the university. In 1834 he became assistant professor of physics and technology in the university there, and in 1845 was appointed professor.
As a teacher his success was rapid and extraordinary.
From 1827 to 1833 he was occupied mainly with chemical researches, which resulted in the discovery of the first of the platino-ammonium compounds (Magnus' green salt is [Pt(NH3)4][PtCl4]), of sulphovinic acids, ethionic acids and isethionic acids and their salts, and, in conjunction with CF Ammermüller, of periodic acid.
Among other subjects at which he subsequently worked were the diminution in density produced in garnet and vesuvianite by melting, the absorption of gases in blood (1837–1845), the expansion of gases by heat (1841–1844), the vapour pressures of water and various solutions (1844–1854), thermoelectricity (1851), electrolysis (1856), induction of currents (1858-1861), conduction of heat in gases (1860), polarization of heat (1866–1868) and the deflection of projectiles from firearms. From 1861 onwards he devoted much attention to the question of diathermancy in gases and vapours, especially to the behaviour in this respect of dry and moist air, and to the thermal effects produced by the condensation of moisture on solid surfaces.
In 1834 Magnus was elected extraordinary, and in 1845 ordinary professor at Berlin. He married in 1840 Bertha Humblot, of a French Huguenot family settled in Berlin, by whom he left a son and two daughters.
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