bridges vol. 12, December 2006 / Feature Article
by John C. Crepeau

The Austrian physicist Josef Stefan made important contributions in the fields of acoustics, electromagnetism, optics, and the thermal sciences, and is the eponym of an important scientific constant, a physical law, and a series of dimensionless variables. Despite these tremendous scientific honors, his life history is not well known.

Early Life and Education
Josef Stefan was born March 24, 1835, in the small village of St. Peter, just outside the town of Klagenfurt. He was the son of ethnic Slovenian parents. His father, Aleš, was a miller and a baker and his mother, Marija Startinik, worked as a maidservant. He was a bright student, but as an illegitimate child was unable to attend the local gymnasium, so his parents married when Josef was eleven years old.

A plaque commemorating his childhood home at 88 Ebentalerstrasse is mounted on the house now occupying the site of his original home. Besides his scientific talents, he wrote poems in Slovenian, primarily on romantic, patriotic, and scientific themes. By his early twenties, however, he abandoned his poetry and focused on his technical abilities [1,2 ] .

After completing his studies at the gymnasium, he contemplated joining the Benedictine order to become a priest, but in 1853 he enrolled at the University of Vienna where he studied mathematics and physics. After graduating in 1857, he taught physics for pharmacy students. Just a year later, he passed his doctoral examination and became a Privatdozent (private instructor) in mathematical physics at the University of Vienna , where he was to spend his entire academic career. In 1860 he was appointed a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences . He was offered a full professorship in mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna in 1863, becoming the youngest to hold that rank in Austria. Two years later he was appointed director of the university's Institute of Physics , and turned the provincial institute into a powerhouse that produced seminal technical results and many scientific luminaries. His peers in the scientific community began to recognize his work when he received the inaugural Ignaz L. Lieben Prize in 1865 [3 ; see article in bridges vol. 2 "The Lieben Prize – History Interrupted and Time Regained "], an honor awarded every three years to young citizens of the Austro-Hungarian empire for the best scientific paper. Stefan was personable and outgoing, a well-liked teacher and administrator, but very focused on his work, so much so that he had few friends outside of the institute and almost no social life. In fact, he often slept in his lab, sometimes not leaving the institute building for days at a time.

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