The History of Physics in Heidelberg
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EINSTEIN and NAZI PHYSICS When Science Meets Ideology and Prejudice
MONOGRAPH Mètode Science Studies Journal, 10 (2020): 147-155. University of Valencia. DOI: 10.7203/metode.10.13472 ISSN: 2174-3487. eISSN: 2174-9221. Submitted: 29/11/2018. Approved: 23/05/2019. EINSTEIN AND NAZI PHYSICS When science meets ideology and prejudice PHILIP BALL In the 1920s and 30s, in a Germany with widespread and growing anti-Semitism, and later with the rise of Nazism, Albert Einstein’s physics faced hostility and was attacked on racial grounds. That assault was orchestrated by two Nobel laureates in physics, who asserted that stereotypical racial features are exhibited in scientific thinking. Their actions show how ideology can infect and inflect science. Reviewing this episode in the current context remains an instructive and cautionary tale. Keywords: Albert Einstein, Nazism, anti-Semitism, science and ideology. It was German society, Einstein said, that revealed from epidemiology and research into disease (the to him his Jewishness. «This discovery was brought connection of smoking to cancer, and of HIV to home to me by non-Jews rather than Jews», he wrote AIDS) to climate change, this idea perhaps should in 1929 (cited in Folsing, 1998, p. 488). come as no surprise. But it is for that very reason that Shortly after the boycott of Jewish businesses at the the hostility Einstein’s physics sometimes encountered start of April 1933, the German Students Association, in Germany in the 1920s and 30s remains an emboldened by Hitler’s rise to total power, declared instructive and cautionary tale. that literature should be cleansed of the «un-German spirit». The result, on 10 May, was a ritualistic ■ AGAINST RELATIVITY burning of tens of thousands of books «marred» by Jewish intellectualism. -
Geschichte Der Physik an Der Universität Heidelberg
5. Gelungener Neuanfang (1945–1960) Für die Heidelberger Bürger war der Krieg mit dem Einmarsch der Ame- rikaner am 30. März 1945 zu Ende. Die Universität wurde auf Anordnung der Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Aber schon wenige Tage später kon stituierte sich – auf Initiative der amerikanischen Spionageabwehr (CIC, Counter Intelligence Corps) – eine kleine Gruppe von politisch unbelasteten Professoren, um Pläne für eine innere und äußere Erneuerung der Univer- sität auszuarbeiten. Zu dieser Gruppe, die nach der Zahl ihrer Mitglieder »Dreizehnerausschuss« genannt wurde, gehörte neben dem Philosophen Karl Jaspers und dem Chirurgen Karl Heinrich Bauer auch der Physiker Wolfgang Gentner als Vertreter der Nichtordinarien. Nach intensiven Verhandlungen mit den Vertretern der amerikanischen Besatzung wurde erreicht, dass schon im August 1945 ein neuer Rektor, Karl Heinrich Bauer, gewählt werden durfte und danach die Universität schrittweise wieder- eröffnet werden konnte: zuerst die Fakultäten der Medizin und Theologie und die übrigen im Januar 1946 (Wolgast S. 167 ff). 115 Personelle Erneuerung Zur Erneuerung der Universität gehörte insbesondere, dass alle Profes- soren auf ihre politische Vergangenheit überprüft wurden und je nach dem Grad ihrer Belastung entlassen oder weiterbeschäftigt wurden. Dazu zwei Beispiele aus der Physik (Schönbeck 2006, S. 1139 ff): Ludwig Wesch, Professor für technische Physik und Leiter des Instituts für Weltpost und Nachrichtenwesen, wurde im April 1945 verhaftet und aus seiner Professur entlassen. Er ging in die Privatwirtschaft, wo er offensichtlich erfolgreich war, denn er wurde Inhaber von ca. 40 deutschen und 200 ausländischen Patenten. Lenards Nachfolger August Becker wurde zunächst in seinem Amt bestätigt, aber plötzlich – einen Monat vor dem Erreichen seines Ruhe- standes – im Februar 1946 entlassen. -
Annual Report 2019 of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
THE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY IN THE HELMHOLTZ ASSOCIATION Annual Report 2019 of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association www.kit.edu AT A GLANCE KIT – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association Mission We create and impart knowledge for the society and the environment. From fundamental research to applications, we excel in a broad range of disciplines, i.e. in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. We make significant contributions to the global challenges of humankind in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. Being a big science institution, we take part in international competition and hold a leading position in Europe. We offer research-based study programs to prepare our students for responsible positions in society, industry, and science. Our innovation efforts build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. Our working together and our management culture are characterized by respect, cooperation, confidence, and subsidiarity. An inspiring work environment as well as cultural diversity characterize and enrich the life and work at KIT. Employees 2019 Total: 9,398 Teaching and research: 5,183 Professors: 368 Foreign scientists and researchers: 1,178 Infrastructure and services: 4,215 Trainees: 371 Students Winter semester 2019/2020: 24,381 Budget 2019 in Million Euros Total: 951.3 Federal funds: 310.2 State funds: 271.4 Third-party funds: 369.7 EDITORIAL 3 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association – stands for excellent research and outstanding academic ed- ucation. -
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Werner Heisenberg And
MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science PREPRINT 203 (2002) Horst Kant Werner Heisenberg and the German Uranium Project Otto Hahn and the Declarations of Mainau and Göttingen Werner Heisenberg and the German Uranium Project* Horst Kant Werner Heisenberg’s (1901-1976) involvement in the German Uranium Project is the most con- troversial aspect of his life. The controversial discussions on it go from whether Germany at all wanted to built an atomic weapon or only an energy supplying machine (the last only for civil purposes or also for military use for instance in submarines), whether the scientists wanted to support or to thwart such efforts, whether Heisenberg and the others did really understand the mechanisms of an atomic bomb or not, and so on. Examples for both extreme positions in this controversy represent the books by Thomas Powers Heisenberg’s War. The Secret History of the German Bomb,1 who builds up him to a resistance fighter, and by Paul L. Rose Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project – A Study in German Culture,2 who characterizes him as a liar, fool and with respect to the bomb as a poor scientist; both books were published in the 1990s. In the first part of my paper I will sum up the main facts, known on the German Uranium Project, and in the second part I will discuss some aspects of the role of Heisenberg and other German scientists, involved in this project. Although there is already written a lot on the German Uranium Project – and the best overview up to now supplies Mark Walker with his book German National Socialism and the quest for nuclear power, which was published in * Paper presented on a conference in Moscow (November 13/14, 2001) at the Institute for the History of Science and Technology [àÌÒÚËÚÛÚ ËÒÚÓËË ÂÒÚÂÒÚ‚ÓÁ̇ÌËfl Ë ÚÂıÌËÍË ËÏ. -
Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark Fathi Habashi
Laval University From the SelectedWorks of Fathi Habashi 2012 The asC e of Nobelists: Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark Fathi Habashi Available at: https://works.bepress.com/fathi_habashi/491/ '18-79 78 Chen. Educator2012,17, The Caseof NobelistsPhilipp Lenard and JohannesStark Fathi Habashi Laval Univers ity, QuebecC ity, Canada, FahL Hab(tshi@prul. ulwal.ca ReceiverlApril 27,20I2. AcceptedMay I6,20l2. Abstract A Nobel laureatehas become a symbolofexcellence, a g€niusthat deserves respect and honour from the royalties,scholars, and laymen,While this is absolutelytrue yet few laureatesdid not standto this standard. This may be strang€but this happenedin turbulenttimes in Germanywhen the Nazi ideologyprevailed. philipp Lenardand JohannesStark two distinguishedCerman scientists were an€sted at the end of World War II and tried for misconduct, lntroduclion completelyevacuated. He wasable to convenientlydetect the rays and measuretheir intensityby meansof papersheets Two Nob€l Prize winnersw€re conffov€rsial figures in the coatedwith phosphorescentmaterials. 1930sand 40s.Philipp EduardAnton von Lenard(Figure l), He confirmedsome of J. J. Thomson'swork, which winnerof the Nobel Prizefor Physicsin 1905for his research ultimatelyarrived at the understandingthat cathoderays were on cathoderays, and JohannesStark (Figure2) Nobel Prize streamsof energeticelectrons. In conjunctionwith his and laureatein l9l9 fbr his discoveryof the DopplerEfl'ect in other earlier experimentson the absorptionof the rays in canalrays and the splittingof spectrallines -
Father of the Shell Model
CENTENARY Father of the shell model Heidelberg University held a symposium on fundamental physics and the shell model this summer to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hans Jensen, the German who created the nuclear shell model with Maria Goeppert-Mayer of Argonne. Hans Jensen (1907–1973) is the only theorist among the three winners from Heidelberg University of the Nobel Prize for Physics. He shared the award with Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963 for the development of the nuclear shell model, which they published independently in 1949. The model offered the first coherent expla- nation for the variety of properties and structures of atomic nuclei. In particular, the “magic numbers” of protons and neutrons, which had been determined experimentally from the stability properties and observed abundances of chemical elements, found a natural explanation in terms of the spin-orbit coupling of the nucleons. These numbers play a decisive role in the synthesis of the ele- ments in stars, as well as in the artificial synthesis of the heaviest elements at the borderline of the periodic table of elements. Hans Jensen was born in Hamburg on 25 June 1907. He studied physics, mathematics, chemistry and philosophy in Hamburg and Freiburg, obtaining his PhD in 1932. After a short period in the Hans Jensen in his study at 16 Philosophenweg, Heidelberg German army’s weather service, he became professor of theo- in 1963. (Courtesy Bettmann/UPI/Corbis.) retical physics in Hannover in 1940. Jensen then accepted a new chair for theoretical physics in Heidelberg in 1949 on the initiative Mayer 1949). -
Biographies in the History of Physics: Actors, Institutions, and Objects The
Biographies in the History of Physics: Actors, Institutions, and Objects May 22nd to May 25, 2018 Physikzentrum, Bad Honnef, Germany Organization: German Physical Society, Division for the History of Physics PD Dr. habil. Christian Forstner Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main SFB 1095„Schwächediskurse und Ressourcenregime“ Gräfstraße 78 | 60486 Frankfurt | Postfach 104 Tel: +49 (0) 171 18 262 13 [email protected] Prof. Dr. Dieter Hoffmann MPI für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Boltmannstr. 22 14195 Berlin [email protected] Prof. Dr. Mark Walker Department of History, Union College 807 Union Street Schenectady, NY,12308 USA [email protected] The workshop is funded by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus- Foundation and the German Physical Society Program TUESDAY MAY 22 15:00-15:30 Christian Forstner, Welcome Dieter Hoffmann, Mark Walker 15:30-16:15 Thomas Söderqvist Autobiography as history, curriculum vitae, or ars moriendi? 16:15-16:45 Coffee Break 16:45-17:30 Joanna Behrmann Bridging Personal and Professional: Margaret Maltby’s Life in Early Twentieth Century Physics 17:30-18:15 Julia Bloemer The Monastic Natural Philosopher – An Eighteenth Century Scientific Persona 18:15-19:00 Richard Staley Comment WEDNESDAY MAY 23 8:30-9:15 Michael Eckert Ludwig Prandtl: Pioneer of Fluid Mechanics and Science Manager 9:15-10:00 Vanessa Osganian Rudolf Tomaschek: An exponent of the ‘Deutsche Physik’ movement 10:00-10:30 Coffee Break 10:30-11:15 Amelia Bonea Microphotography as Transnational Scientific Method: Ruchi Ram Sahni’s Radioactivity Research -
Prot. 2001/0911/P-B623 Vatican City, March 31
Prot. 2001/0911/P-B623 Vatican City, March 31, 2001 CENL VATICAN LIBRARY - REPORT 2000 1. MANAGEMENT of the Library: performance indicators, planning, decision-making, evaluation, mission statement The quality assessment has yet to be actualized. For now, waiting for qualified personnel and an increased budget, little by little, and for specific sections, work is being done. Personnel continue to be sensitized to the project. The relinquishment of the Library's Department of the Museums to the Vatican Museums (October 1, 1999) is slowly serving as a means to define more clearly the primary goals of the Library according to the actual norms of the Vatican Library. 2. HANDLING of electronic publications and formats, including new legislation In this area we are still in the phase of general projections. At any rate, some individual pilot projects have already been realized: 1) The digitization of copies owned by the Vatican Library of the Gutenberg Bible; in collaboration with Toppan Printing Company of Tokyo; 2) The reproduction on CD of important works regarding the origins of Common Law and the History of the Church; in collaboration with the Publisher "Sub Signo Stellae"; 3) The reproduction on CD of the series "Studi e Testi" was initiated, beginning with the out of print volumes; 4) In order to serve the scholars' needs, the photographic lab is, beginning this year, offering the possibility of digital reproductions of printed books and manuscripts. 3. FUNDING There were no budget cuts. Following the tendency of the last three years, there was an increase from the previous year (27%). -
The Virus House -
David Irving The Virus House - F FOCAL POINT Copyright © by David Irving Electronic version copyright © by Parforce UK Ltd. All rights reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. Copies may be downloaded from our website for research purposes only. No part of this publication may be commercially reproduced, copied, or transmitted save with written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. To Pilar is the son of a Royal Navy commander. Imper- fectly educated at London’s Imperial College of Science & Tech- nology and at University College, he subsequently spent a year in Germany working in a steel mill and perfecting his fluency in the language. In he published The Destruction of Dresden. This became a best-seller in many countries. Among his thirty books (including three in German), the best-known include Hitler’s War; The Trail of the Fox: The Life of Field Marshal Rommel; Accident, the Death of General Sikorski; The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe; Göring: a Biography; and Nuremberg, the Last Battle. The second volume of Churchill's War appeared in and he is now completing the third. His works are available as free downloads at www.fpp.co.uk/books. Contents Author’s Introduction ............................. Solstice.......................................................... A Letter to the War Office ........................ The Plutonium Alternative....................... An Error of Consequence ......................... Item Sixteen on a Long Agenda............... Freshman................................................... Vemork Attacked..................................... -
The Effects of State Succession on Cultural Property: Ownership, Control, Protection
Department of Law The Effects of State Succession on Cultural Property: Ownership, Control, Protection Andrzej Jakubowski Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Laws of the European University Institute Florence, May 2011 2 EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Department of Law The Effects of State Succession on Cultural Property: Ownership, Control, Protection Andrzej Jakubowski Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Laws of the European University Institute Examining Board: Prof. Francesco Francioni, European University Institute (Supervisor) Prof. Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, European University Institute Prof. Kurt Siehr, Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative and International Private Law Prof. Władysław Czapliński, Polish Academy of Sciences © 2011, Andrzej Jakubowski No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author 1 2 Acknowledgments It is a pleasure to acknowledge the input and assistance that I have received in the writing of this dissertation. Research for this study has been possible by a Polish national grant at the Law Department of the European University Institute, which provided me with excellent institutional support. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law in Hamburg, and the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. I am very fortunate to have been able to receive guidance from my supervisor, Francesco Francioni, who constantly encouraged me in my research and showed me what academic excellence and professionalism stand for. I am whole heartedly thankful for his patience, support and enthusiasm. -
Max Planck in the Social Context
Notice to the reader. This is the provisional Version of a text to be included into a volume on the epistemology of some physieists, edited by John Blackmore. In the text actually submitted, the present author argues with some of his coauthors, Their names have been left out here as their contributions may not be available to the readers of the present text. Second edition. MAX PLANCK IN THE SOCIAL CONTEXT E. Broda Institute of Physical Chemistry Vienna University English Summary on Next Page Zusammenfassung Planck war der Begründer der Quantentheorie und daher der modernen Physik. Außerdem hatte er sowohl durch die Kraft seines Charakters als auch durch seine überragenden Funktionen im wissenschaftlichen Leben starken öffentlichen Einfluß. In bezug auf die Stellung zur Atomistik ging Planck, als er sein Strahlungsgesetz begründete und die Quantisierung einführte, von Mach zu Boltzmann über. Einstein war zeit seines Lebens ein Verfechter der Atomistik, während Mach bis zum Ende ein Gegner blieb. Planck war von Anfang an ein Förderer der Relativitätstheorie und Einsteins. In der Weimarer Republik trat er für Einstein gegen die soge nannte "Deutsche Physik" ein. Er hatte sogar den Mut, Einstein noch unter dem Naziregime in Ansprachen zu würdigen. Stets philosophisch interessiert, stand Planck zuerst im Banne des Positivismus von Mach, doch wandte er sich später ähnlich wie Einstein dem Realismus zu. Boltzmann war schon immer Realist und Materialist ge wesen. Man verdankt Planck auch wichtige Überlegungen zum Problem der Willensfreiheit. In der Politik war Planck vor dem ersten Weltkrieg ein konventio neller, konservativer preußisch-deutscher Patriot. Nach der Machtergrei fung Hitlers ging er jedoch auf Distanz zum Staat. -
MARIA GOEPPERT MAYER June 28,1906-February 20,1972
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES M ARIA GOEPPERT M AYER 1906—1972 A Biographical Memoir by RO BE R T G. S ACHS Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 1979 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES WASHINGTON D.C. MARIA GOEPPERT MAYER June 28,1906-February 20,1972 BY ROBERT G. SACHS HEN IN 1963 she received the Nobel Prize in Physics, W Maria Goeppert Mayer was the second woman in history to win that prize—the first being Marie Curie, who had received it sixty years earlier—and she was the third woman in history to receive the Nobel Prize in a science category. This accomplish- ment had its beginnings in her early exposure to an intense atmosphere of science, both at home and in the surrounding university community, a community providing her with the opportunity to follow her inclinations and to develop her re- markable talents under the guidance of the great teachers and scholars of mathematics and physics. Throughout her full and gracious life, her science continued to be the theme about which her activities were centered, and it culminated in her major contribution to the understanding of the structure of the atomic nucleus, the spin-orbit coupling shell model of nuclei. Maria Goeppert was born on June 28, 1906, in Kattowiz, Upper Silesia (then in Germany), the only child of Friedrich Goeppert and his wife, Maria ne'e Wolff. In 1910 the family moved to Gottingen, where Friedrich Goeppert became Pro- fessor of Pediatrics.