Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Heinrich Friedrich Weber (1843 1912) was a physicist born in the town of Magdala, near Weimar. Around 1861 he entered the University of Jena, where Ernst Abbe became the first of two physicists who decisively influenced his career (Weiss 1912, pp. 44 45). Weber soon discovered, however, that he lacked sufficient mathematical talent, and so he abandoned mathematics entirely (Weiss 1912, p. 44). Returning to physics, Weber found in Abbe a young and dynamic scientist, one who successfully focused much of his research efforts on re-thinking optical theory.