Walter Müller, the co-inventor of the famous Geiger-Müller radiation counter

September 6, 1905, Hannover (Germany) – December 4, 1979, Walnut Creek (California, United States)

He studied Physics, Chemistry, and Philosophy at the University of Kiel (Germany). In 1925, he became the first graduate student of the new professor Hans Geiger, with whom he conducted research on ionization and its repercussions on gases and with whom, in 1928, he invented the Geiger-Müller tube, the basis of the counter. Geiger-Müller. A vitally important device, then and now, to obtain data on radioactivity.

In 1929, Geiger left the university and Müller went into the private sector, working for Siemens-Reiniger, Julius Pintsch, and Philips.

After World War II, nuclear research was banned in Germany, so he began to practice as a consultant for various companies until, in 1951, he accepted a professorship at the Australian Ministry of Economy. It is in this country, after finishing the contract with the ministry, that he founded a company in which he manufactured the tubes for the Geiger-Müller counters.

In 1958, he began working in the Research Department at General Telephone & Electronics Corporation, in Palo Alto (United States) and finally, he was employed at General Motors, in Santa Barbara (California).