Thomas Johann Seebeck, an Estonian-German physicist, chemist and physician was born in 1770 in Tallinn, Estonia. Educated in Tallinn, Berlin and Göttingen, he lived and worked in Jena, Bayreuth, Nuremberg and Berlin, where he died in 1831. In this article, his main scientific achievements in optics and electricity are briefly described, his life story is summarized and the genealogy of his ancestors is given.
1. Seebeck, T. J. Magnetische Polarisation der Metalle und Erze durch Temperatur-Differenz. Abh. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1820–21, 1822, 289–346.
2. Oersted, H. C. Experimenta circa effectum conflictus electrici in acum magneticam. Typis Schultzianis, Hafniae, Copenhagen, 1820.
3. Seebeck, T. J. Einige neue Versuche und Beobachtungen über Spiegelung und Brechung des Lichtes. J. für Chemie Physik, 1813, 7, 259–298, 382–384.
4. Seebeck, T. J. Von den entoptischen Farbenfiguren und Bedingungen ihrer Bildung in Gläsern. J. für Chemie Physik, 1814, 12, 1–17.
5. Goethe, J. W. Zur Farbenlehre. Cotta, Tübingen, 1810.
6. Faraday, M. On a new law of electric conduction. On conducting power generally. Philos. Trans. Royal Soc., 1833, 123, 507–522.
7. Lippmann, G. Colour photography, Nobel lecture, December 14, 1908. In Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1967.
8. Gabor, D. Holography, 1948–1971, Nobel lecture, December 11, 1971. In Nobel Lectures, Physics 1971–1980 (Lundqvist, S., ed.). World Scientific, Singapore, 1992.
9. Nielsen, K. Another kind of light: The work of T. J. Seebeck and his collaboration with Goethe. Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, 1989, 20:1, 107–178, (Part 1); 1991, 21:2, 317–397, (Part 2).
10. Gerber, S. Universitätsverwaltung und Wissenschaftsorganisation im 19. Jahrhundert. Der Jenaer Pädagoge und Universitätskurator Moritz Seebeck. Verlag Böhlau, Köln, 2004.
11. Voss, W. August Seebeck – der erste Physikprofesor der Technischen Bildungsanstalt. Universitäts Journal, 2001, 11, No. 8, 8.
12. Passow, S. Erinnerungen an den Kinderjahren. Jahrbuch der Jean-Paul Gesellschaft, 1976, 136–154.
