September 6, 1905, in Hannover (Germany) – December 4, 1979, in 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 Corporatio, in Palo Alto (United States) and finally, he was employed at General Motors, in Santa Barbara (California).
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.