Caderno Brasileiro de Ensino de Física (Nov 2014)
Commented Portuguese translation of Guillaume’s paper of 1896 about the temperature of space
Abstract
We present a complete Portuguese translation of the 1896 paper by Charles Édouard Guillaume (1861-1928) about the temperature of interstellar space. The importance of this work is that it is the oldest estimate known to us of the temperature acquired by a body which is in interstellar space far away from other stars. This temperature would be due to an equilibrium state in which the radiation received by this body from the stars around it would be equal to the radiation emitted by this body. This estimative happened prior to the birth of George Gamow (1904-1968) who is considered erroneously in many textbooks as being the first person to have predicted this temperature.
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