Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger

Who was Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger?

Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger was an Austrian mineralogist, geologist and physicist. As a physicist Haidinger ranked highly, and he was one of the most active promoters of scientific progress in Austria. He was the first to observe the slight polarization dependence of the human eye, observed via the phenomenon now known as Haidinger's brush. Knighted in 1865, the following year he retired to his estate at Dornbach near Vienna, where he died on 19 March 1871.