Geiger history

Geiger was born in Germany in September 1882 and studied physics at the University of Munich and the University of Erlangen.

In 1894, after his company failed to get an important contract to electrify the city of Munich, Hermann Einstein moved to Milan to work with a relative.

He went to a special high school run by Jost Winteler in Aarau, Switzerland, and graduated in 1896.

In 1903 Einstein married Milena Maric, a Serbian physics student whom he had met at school in Zürich.

Having received his Ph.D. from the University of Erlangen in 1906, he moved to England and began studying radioactive emissions with up-and-coming nuclear physicist Ernest Rutherford, chair of the physics department.

Geiger H. & Marsden E. (1909) “On a Diffuse Reflection of the α-Particles”. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A, vol.

Hans Geiger invented his eponymous counter for measuring radioactivity in 1911.

They were married in 1919, the same year he divorced Maric.

He is also known for his discovery of the photoelectric effect, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

In 1925 Geiger accepted his first teaching position, at the University of Kiel.

In December 1926 Albert Einstein wrote to Max Born that “[t]he theory produces a good deal but hardly brings us closer to the secret of the Old One.

H. Geiger and W. Müller. (1928) “Elektronenzählrohr zur Messung schwächster Aktivitäten” (Electron counting tube for the measurement of the weakest radioactivities), Die Naturwissenschaften (The Sciences), vol.

In 1929 Geiger took up a post at the University of Tübingen, where he made his first observation of a cosmic-ray shower.

In 1930, Frank Geiger's son Francis (Frank) joined the family business full time after graduating from Georgetown University.

Two years later, in 1932, Frank's brother Raymond (Ray) joined the company after completing his degree in philosophy from Notre Dame University.

One Canadian writer dubbed him "the King of Cornography," to which Ray responded, "I'd rather be corny than porny." When Ray began as editor in 1935, the Almanac had a circulation of 86,000.

He continued to investigate cosmic rays, artificial radioactivity, and nuclear fission after accepting a position in 1936 at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, which he held until he died.

He was also a member of the so-called Uranium Club, a clandestine German effort to develop and produce atomic weapons after the discovery of atomic fission in 1939.

"Geiger has written a magisterial, almost encyclopedic history of higher education in the United States from its beginnings in the 17th century until 1940. . . . Well-written and filled with copious detail."—Choice

Frank became company president and remained in that role until 1944.

1949: Ray Geiger and wife Ann buy the rights to the Farmers' Almanac.

After suffering an abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture several days before, Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955, at age 76.

He eventually volunteered as a medical professional in Mississippi, where he helped to establish the Tufts-Delta Health Center in 1965.

By 1971, Geiger had reached $10 million in sales, only 10 percent of which came from the Almanac.

When they joined Geiger in 1973, annual sales stood at $8 million, and the company had a sales force of approximately 75.

In the 1975 edition of the Almanac, Ray launched his first campaign.

1976: Ann Geiger becomes sole owner of Almanac Publishing Co. and its trademark.

In 1979, with $18 million in annual sales, the Almanac garnered less than 10 percent of those sales.

After Buie's death in 1980, his widow stepped in to calculate the predictions and was then succeeded by scientist and astronomer Kenneth Franklin.

Beginning in 1982, in order to guard the secret weather formula, the Almanac's forecaster became known only under the pseudonym Caleb Weatherbee.

By 1986, Geiger, with 16 offices and subsidiaries in seven states, was the fifth largest specialty advertising company in the United States.

As he noted in an article in the Portland Press Herald in 1987, "Our customers are our sales representatives.

By 1990, Geiger was the third largest promotional advertising company in the United States.

1994: Ray Geiger dies; Peter Geiger assumes the editorship of the Farmers' Almanac.

With the 1995 edition, the first edition with Peter as editor, the Almanac became available on the retail market through bookstore and newsstand sales.

In 2002, Geiger sales totaled $119 million, with over 400 sales representatives.

2003: Geiger celebrates its 125th anniversary.

In 2005, Peter became managing director of Geiger alongside his father.

Civil Rights History Project collection (AFC 2010/039), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Walter Bruce oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Durant, Mississippi, 2013 March 11.

Sound recording and photographs of an Open Mic interview with banjoist and composer Jayme Stone, Whittall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress on May 4, 2017.