Ivan Puliui
Ivan Pavlovych Puluj (pron; Johann Puluj; 2 February 1845 – 31 January 1918) 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.
Also recorded as Ivan Pulyui · Ivan Pavlovych Puliui · Ivan Pului · Johann Puluj
Ivan Puliui

Public domain
- Birth Name
- Ivan Pavlovych Puluj
- Born
- 2 February 1845
- Birthplace
- Hrymailiv, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire
- Died
- 31 January 1918
- Place of death
- Smíchov, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
- Education
- University of Vienna University of Straßburg
- Known for
- X-rays
- Nationality
- Austria–Hungary
- Occupation
- physicist · linguist · translator · inventor · university teacher · writer · electrotechnician
- Fields
- physics · electrical engineering · art patronage
- Languages
- German · Ukrainian · Czech
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Documentary summary
Ivan Pavlovych Puluj (pron; Johann Puluj; 2 February 1845 – 31 January 1918) 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.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Ivan Puliui studied at University of Vienna, University of Strasbourg and Barbareum. The recorded working language is German, Ukrainian and Czech. The field of work recorded is physics, electrical engineering and art patronage. Employment is recorded with University of Vienna and Czech Technical University in Prague.
Key facts
Key facts
• Native Name — Іван Пулюй • Birth Name — Ivan Pavlovych Puluj • Born — 2 February 1845 • Birthplace — Hrymailiv, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire • Died — 31 January 1918 • Place of death — Smíchov, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary • Education — University of Vienna University of Straßburg • Known for — X-rays • Children — 6 • Fields — Physics • Workplaces — University of Vienna Imperial-Royal German Technical University in Prague • Doctoral Advisor — August Kundt
Biography
Biography
Puluj was born on 2 February 1845 in Hrymailiv, which was then part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in the Austrian Empire. He was the son of Pavlo Puluj and Xenia née Burshtynska. The family's original surname was Pulguy until 1861. His father, Pavlo, was a landowner who served as burgomaster of Hrymayliv from 1861 to 1865. Ivan grew up in Hrymayliv, and attended primary school in the village. He then attended the gymnasium at Ternopil, where he became a co-founder and active member of the Ukrainian student society Hromada. He graduated with honors from Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna (1869), later also from the Department of Philosophy (1872). During his time there, he was the co-founder and later head of the Sich movement. After graduating, he worked as an assistant to the University of Vienna's experimental physics department. In 1876 Pului finished his doctorate on internal friction in gases at the University of Strasbourg under supervision of August Kundt. He studied in Strasbourg as a stipend recipient from the Austrian Ministry of Education. Puluj taught at the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy in Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) (1874–1876), the University of Vienna (1874–1884) and the Imperial-Royal German Technical University in Prague (1884–1916). He served as the rector of the Imperial-Royal German Technical University (Kaiserlich-Königlich Deutsche Technische Hochschule) 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
Personal life
4 October 1884, he married Kateřina née Stožicky (1863–1945) in Vienna. They had six children: Natalia (wife of the composer Vasyl Barvinsky), Olga, Maria Xenia Margareta (died in Vienna in 1974), Alexander Hans (1901–1984), Pavlo (died in 1986) and Georg (1906–1987).
Scientific contribution
Scientific contribution
• Illustration — Cathode ray tube #12, Ivan Puluj design, ca 1896 • Illustration — Puluj's apparatus for determining the mechanical equivalent of heat 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 (1880–1883), 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
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
Select works
Select works
• Puluj, H. J. (1875). 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. (1876). Über die Abhängigkeit der Reibung der Gase von der Temperatur. (About the dependence of the friction of the gases on the temperature). • Puluj, J. (1876). Ueber einen Schulapparat zur Bestimmung des mechanischen Wärmeaequivalentes. Annalen der Physik. 233(3): 437–446. (Over a school apparatus for determining the mechanical Wärmeaequivalentes). • Puluj, J. (1876). Beitrag zur Bestimmung des mechanischen Wärmeaequivalentes. Annalen der Physik. 233(4): 649–656. (Contribution to the determination of the mechanical Wärmeaequivalentes). • Puluj, J. (1877). Ueber die Abhängigkeit der Reibung der Gase von der Temperatur. Annalen der Physik. 237(6): 296–310. • Puluj, J. (1877). On the diffusion of vapours through clay cells. Taylor and Francis. • Puluj, J. (1878). On the friction of vapours. Taylor and Francis. • Puluj, J. (1879). On the radiometer. Taylor and Francis. • Crookes, W., & Puluj, J. (1880). Annalen der Physik. Phil. Trans. 1: 152–3879. (Annals of Physics). • Puluj, J., & Glaser, G. (1880). The Fourth State of Matter. A Refutation. Science. 58–59. • Puluj, J. (1880). Strahlende Elektrodenmaterie. ©Akademie d. Wissenschaften Wien, 864–923. http: www.zobodat.at/pdf/SBAWW_81_2_0864-0923.pdf • Puluj, J. (1883). Strahlende Elektroden-Materie und der sogenannte vierte Aggregatzustand. (Radiant electrode material and the so-called fourth state). • Puluj, J. (1887). Objective Darstellung der wahren Gestalt einer schwingenden Saite. Annalen der Physik: 267(8): 1033–1035. (Objective presentation of the true form of a vibrating string). • Puluj, J. (1888). Apparatus for illustrating the fall of bodies in a vacuum. Taylor and Francis. • Puluj, J. (1888). Fallapparat. Annalen der Physik. 269(3): 575–576. • Puluj, J. (1890). On a telethermometer. Taylor and Francis. • Puluj, H. (1895). On Kathode Rays. Proceedings of the Physical Society of London. 14(1): 178.
Support of Ukrainian culture
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.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Hrymailiv.
Birth place
Smíchov.
Death place
Pulyui's publications and first images (1895)
• Strahlende Elektrodenmaterie Wiener Berichte I. – 1880. – 81. – pp. 864–923; II. – 1881. – 83. – pp. 402–420; III. 1881. – 83. – pp. 693–708; IV. – 1882. – 85. – pp. 871–881. • Strahlende Elektrodenmaterie und der sogenannte vierte Aggregatzustand' – Wien; Verlag Carl Gerold Sohn, 1883. • Radiant Elektrode Matter and the so Called Fourth State. -London: Physical Memoirs, 1889. – Vol. l, Pt.2. – pp. 233–331. • Über die Entstehung der Röntgenstrahlen und ihre photographische Wirkung Wiener Berichte II Abt. 1896. – 105. – pp. 228–238.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Ivan Puluj”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q699547: Ivan Puliui
General reference · Wikidata
Honours
• Ukraine's Ternopil Ivan Pul'uj National Technical University 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 named by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature in his memory. • Illustration — Ukrainian Postal stamp. 150 years born Ivan Puluj, 1995
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, *
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Пулюй, Іван Павлович. ВУЕ.
- 2.Die K.K. Deutsche technische Hochschule in Prag, 1806–1906. 191. 1906.
- 3.Ivan Pul'uj . TNTU.edu.ua. Retrieved on 8 May 2014.
- 4.Комментарии. Risu.org.ua. Retrieved on 8 May 2014.
- 5.Death certificate of Ivan Puluj. 1918-01-31.
- 6.Emilie Těšínská. Johann Puluj (1845–1918): his career and the "invisible cathode rays". IUCr Newsletter. (2020) Volume 28, Number 2.
- 7.Юрiй Головач, Роман Пляцко, Галина Сварник. Петер Пулюй i архiв Iвана Пулюя. Нацiональна академiя наук України. 4. 2020.
- 8.Puluj-Röhre, 1870. uibk.ac.at
- 9.Kulynyak, Danylo. Ivan Pului, the discoverer of X-rays. Ukrainian Weekly. Ukrainian National Association, Inc. 68. 23. 6. 9 July 2000.
- 10.Gaida, Roman. Ukrainian Physicist Contributes to the Discovery of X-Rays. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. 72. 7. 658. 1997. 10.1016/s0025-6196(11)63573-8.
- 11.Czech language in the journal of the Czech Technical University (2005, No 2, p. 39-40) mentions details and problems Puljui met during the construction of early power plants in the Czech lands.
- 12.WGSBN Bulletin Archive. Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature. 14 May 2021.
- 13.Shkarlat, Kateryna. Ivan Puluj: Outstanding Ukrainian who discovered X-rays long before Röntgen. RBC-Ukraine.
References
Citations
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,988 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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