Ivan Puluj

Ivan Pavlovych Puluj was a Ukrainian physicist and inventor known for his early research into X-rays. His contributions were largely neglected until the end of the 20th century.

Biography

Son of Pavlo Puluj and Xenia née Burshtynska.
He graduated with honors from Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna, later also from the Department of Philosophy. In 1876 Pului finished his doctorate on internal friction in gases at the University of Strasbourg under supervision of August Kundt. Puluj taught at the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy in Fiume , the University of Vienna and the Imperial-Royal German Technical University in Prague. He served as the rector of the Imperial-Royal German Technical University in 1888–1889. Puluj also worked as a state adviser on electrical engineering for Bohemian and Moravian local governments.
In addition, he completed a translation of the Bible into the Ukrainian language.

Personal life

4 October 1884, he married Kateřina née Stožicky in Vienna. They had six children: Natalia, Olga, Maria Xenia Margareta, Alexander Hans, Pavlo and Georg.

Scientific contribution

Puluj did heavy research into cathode rays, publishing several papers about those rays between 1880 and 1882. In 1881 as a result of experiments into what he called cold light Prof. Puluj developed the Puluj lamp. Puluj experimented with his new device and published his results in a scientific paper, Luminous Electrical Matter and the Fourth State of Matter in the Notes of the Austrian Imperial Academy of Sciences, but expressed his ideas in an obscure manner using obsolete terminology. Puluj did gain some recognition when the work was translated and published as a book by the Royal Society in the UK.
Puluj's findings were essentially X-rays, which he reported 6 weeks after Röntgen reported his.
Puluj made many other discoveries as well. He is particularly noted for inventing a device for determining the mechanical equivalent of heat that was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878. Puluj also participated in opening of several power plants in Austria-Hungary.

Quotes about Puluj

"World history has never been just to certain individuals or certain nations. Small nations and their achievements are often neglected, while the accomplishments of large nations are at times exaggerated."
* Slavko Bokshan, a Serbian scientist who worked in the same department as Puluj and Röntgen

Honours

Ukraine's is named after him.
A stamp published on the occasion of Puluj's 150th Birth Anniversary in 1995.
Streets in Kyiv, Lviv and other Ukrainian cities have the name of Ivan Puluj.
On 14 May 2021, asteroid 226858 Ivanpuluj, discovered by astronomers at the Andrushivka Astronomical Observatory in 2004, was by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature in his memory.

Pulyui's publications and first images (1895)

italic=no I. – 1880. – 81. – pp. 864–923; II. – 1881. – 83. – pp. 402–420; III. 1881. – 83. – pp. 693–708; IV. – 1882. – 85. – pp. 871–881.
italic=no, 1883.
Radiant Elektrode Matter and the so Called Fourth State. -London: Physical Memoirs, 1889. – Vol. l, Pt.2. – pp. 233–331.
italic=no Abt. 1896. – 105. – pp. 228–238.

Select works

Puluj, H. J.. On a lecture-room apparatus for the determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat. Taylor and Francis.
Puluj, J., Pulyui, I., Пулюй, И. П., & Пулюй, І. П.. Über die Abhängigkeit der Reibung der Gase von der Temperatur. .
Puluj, J.. Ueber einen Schulapparat zur Bestimmung des mechanischen Wärmeaequivalentes. Annalen der Physik. 233: 437–446..
Puluj, J.. Beitrag zur Bestimmung des mechanischen Wärmeaequivalentes. Annalen der Physik. 233: 649–656..
Puluj, J.. Ueber die Abhängigkeit der Reibung der Gase von der Temperatur. Annalen der Physik. 237: 296–310.
Puluj, J.. On the diffusion of vapours through clay cells. Taylor and Francis.
Puluj, J.. On the friction of vapours. Taylor and Francis.
Puluj, J.. On the radiometer. Taylor and Francis.
Crookes, W., & Puluj, J.. Annalen der Physik. Phil. Trans. 1: 152–3879..
Puluj, J., & Glaser, G.. The Fourth State of Matter. A Refutation. Science. 58–59.
Puluj, J.. Strahlende Elektrodenmaterie. ©Akademie d. Wissenschaften Wien, 864–923. http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/SBAWW_81_2_0864-0923.pdf
Puluj, J.. Strahlende Elektroden-Materie und der sogenannte vierte Aggregatzustand..
Puluj, J.. Objective Darstellung der wahren Gestalt einer schwingenden Saite. Annalen der Physik: 267: 1033–1035..
Puluj, J.. Apparatus for illustrating the fall of bodies in a vacuum. Taylor and Francis.
Puluj, J.. Fallapparat. Annalen der Physik. 269: 575–576.
Puluj, J.. On a telethermometer. Taylor and Francis.
Puluj, H.. On Kathode Rays. Proceedings of the Physical Society of London. 14: 178.

Support of Ukrainian culture

Puluj is also known for his contribution in promoting Ukrainian culture. He actively supported opening of a Ukrainian university in Lviv and published articles to support Ukrainian language. Together with P. Kulish and I. Nechuy-Levytsky he translated Gospels and Psalter into Ukrainian. Being a professor, Puluj organized scholarships for Ukrainian students in Austria-Hungary.
The World Association of Roentgenologists was created in 2018 in Lviv city in honor of Ivan Puluj.

Literature

R. Gajda, R. Plazko: Johann Puluj: Rätsel des universalen Talents. EuroWelt-Verlag, Lwiw 2001,
S. Nahorniak, M. Medyukh: Physical-technical ideas of Ivan Pul'uj. Dschura, Ternopil 1999,