Christian Doppler's Contributions to Telecommunications

Christian Doppler, an Austrian mathematician was a key figure in the birth of telecommunications. He is most famous for describing what is now called the Doppler Effect, which is the apparent change in frequency and wavelength of a wave as perceived by an observer moving relative to the wave's source. Doppler, the son of a stonemason from Salzburg, Austria, lived between 1803 and 1853. Doppler studied mathematics and astronomy in Czechoslovakia and Austria, and ended up teaching in Vienna at The Prague Polytechnic Institute.

Doppler is famous for his discovery in 1842 of the Doppler Effect. The Doppler Effect is the theory that the observed frequency of a wave is affected by the velocity of the source. The Doppler Effect is observable through sound waves. In tracking the source of the sound, as it moves toward the observer, the pitch becomes higher. As the sound moves away from the observer, the pitch becomes lower.

The Doppler Effect is something that we experience in everyday life. If you were to listen to a siren on a fire engine, the sound of the siren builds as the fire engine approaches. It then fades as the fire engine passes and the sound diminishes the further the truck moves away. Doppler initially tested his theory by using a group of musicians, in conjunction with a train full of trumpeters.

The understating of Doppler’s theories played a vital role in the development of telecommunications. While these theories seem to be common sense, Christian Doppler and his principles are a vital cog in the development of telecommunications as we know it.