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5 Reshaping the Fritz Haber Institute

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5 Reshaping the Fritz Haber Institute 5 Reshaping the Fritz Haber Institute In the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1960s loomed a generation change that, when it arrived, would bring manifold and deep-running transformations. Reference points include the growth of mass consumer culture, the politics of détente, the independence movements in developing and emerging nations, and the emergence worldwide of new philosophical currents, new political constel- lations and new lifestyles, to which the natural sciences decisively contributed, e.g. through the birth control pill.1 Today, these fundamental societal changes are often bundled together and bound to the symbolic year of 1968, but the processes that heralded their arrival took shape years earlier and actually cul- minated closer to 1970. The MPG and even the FHI would recapitulate key aspects of these movements in microcosm, albeit somewhat modified and delayed. At the FHI, Rudolf Brill would provide the first impetus toward fundamental change. This may at first appear surprising since Brill belonged to the pre-war generation, which was reflected in his overall stance on the management of the Institute as well as his scientific accomplishments. But in opposition to these stood his sup- port for his young colleague Jochen H. Block, through which he sought to promote the novel field of catalysis research. The replacement of Brill and the retirement of long-standing scientific members from the FHI in the not-too-distant future presented an occasion, thoroughly typical for the MPG, for a well-planned and comprehensive, scientific and structural reshaping of the Institute. MPG President Adolf Butenandt, likewise to be counted amongst the older gen- eration, made oracular reference to the special situation of the FHI in a congrat- ulatory piece on the occasion of Rolf Hosemann’s 60th birthday, writing: Particularly in this institute, due to circumstances of fate and the peculiar situation of Berlin, certain difficulties in the process of reconstruction were unavoidable but could always be overcome with the help of insightful and responsible scientists.2 In truth, the MPG administration and the CPT Section saw the FHI as something of a problem child at the time. A fragmented departmental structure had grown up at the Institute over the decades; whereas, under President Butenandt, processes were set in motion at the MPG that placed increasingly more weight on coherent, goal-oriented research planning and policies and that favored larger institutes with homogeneous topical foci and collaborative scientific leadership. 1 For an overview cf. Gassert, Klimke, 1968. 2 Butenandt to Hosemann, 18 April 1972, Private property of Prof. Hans Bradaczek. 5 Reshaping the Fritz Haber Institute Research Programs, Initiated and Expired The FHI first entered a transitional phase in which lone director Heinz Gerischer bore sole responsibility for the reorientation of the Institute. Nevertheless, an update of the Institute charter, finalized in 1974, established a pivot point for the organizational changes to come later. According to the revised charter the FHI comprised three sub-institutes: an Institute for Physical Chemistry, under Gerischer, Block and Molière; an Institute for Electron Microscopy under Ruska; and an Institute for Structure Research under Hosemann and Überreiter. Which is to say, the new structure was practically identical to the one proposed in the context of deliberations over Brill’s successor. Gerischer brought a whole array of coworkers with him from Munich and fur- ther expanded his group in Berlin with diploma and doctoral students, taking advantage of his honorary professorships at the TU and FU. He also took over the research groups that had formerly belonged to Brill’s department, including those of Klaus J. Vetter and Georg Manecke, both of whom Gerischer knew from their time together with Bonhoeffer at Humboldt University. Vetter continued his research into the kinetics of electrode processes as well as the passivation and corrosion of metals until his early death in 1974. The Manecke group likewise remained true to its clearly-defined and highly-successful line of research into the synthesis and analysis of functionalized high polymers. Gerischer also took on Hans Dietrich’s group, which pursued further research into boron compounds and metal-organic complexes using X-ray and neutron diffraction methods. In addi- tion, a group from the defunct Stranski department led by Kurt Becker and Rolf Lacmann, who would move to Braunschweig as Professor of Physical Chemistry in 1974, performed research on catalytic reactions, particularly those occurring on zeolites, and on crystal growth and solvation. The low temperature lab under Gustav Klipping grew increasingly autonomous.3 In 1978, Klipping presented a helium-cooled infrared telescope for Spacelab,4 demonstrating just how far beyond the FHI his activities extended. It was also a great boon to his independence that he was able to earn his habilitation at TU Berlin in 1970 through his research on cryogenics. Moreover, in spite of his emphasis on technical problems, he enjoyed considerable international scientific acclaim. But his quasi-autonomous cryogenics lab clashed with plans to stream- line the research profile of the FHI. A large capital investment in the lab was also pending because the demand for coolant had gradually exceeded the capabilities of its old equipment, in spite of the constant improvements made by Klipping and his coworkers. Since the FU showed more interest in the services of the labora- tory than anyone else, after a series of difficult negotiations it joined in ensuring the long-term existence of the lab. Klipping was named Adjunct Professor for Cryogenics in the FU Physics Faculty in 1978, and in 1982, the low temperature 3 Klipping, Klipping, Laboratory. 4 Klipping, Lemke, Römisch, Te l e s c o pe . 184 Research Programs, Initiated and Expired laboratory finally followed him to the FU Physics Department. Nevertheless, sup- ply contracts with the FHI, which contributed to the funding of the facility, and with the Hahn-Meitner Institute and BESSY would be arranged. Gerischer carried on with the electrochemical research program previously out- lined, investigating electrode processes as well as photoexcitation, and set his own research group on a course aimed at developing new fundamental insights. He oversaw ongoing research on the kinetics of rapid reactions. In addition, a new temperature jump method using an iodine laser was developed which offered a wider range of application than the standard technique at the time, extend- ing down into the sub-nanosecond range. This method was used, for example, to study the dissociation of water, demonstrating for the first time its direct photol- ysis.5 Another object of investigation was the temperature-dependent dynamics of the structure of lipid double-layers, the basic building blocks of all biological membranes.6 Stimulated by the development of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transis- tors, in 1957 Gerischer began to investigate charge transfer processes in semicon- ductor electrodes, a topic of research upon which he came to focus more intently in Munich. By the beginning of the 1960s, he had already characterized electron transfers between metal or semiconductor electrodes and electrolytes as tunneling processes taking place through the electrical double layer.7 This groundbreaking research was of great import for photochemistry and photovoltaics. In the same vein, Bruno Pettinger8 and others at the FHI carried out photoexcitation studies on redox systems in solution in contact with the very-thin top layers of II–VI group semiconductor or metal electrodes; Pettinger now heads a research group in the Department of Physical Chemistry. Related research was also done on the then largely unknown electrochemical behavior of sulfide based semiconductors, as a result of which Helmut Tributsch was able to explain the mechanism by which bacteria oxidize sulfide ores.9 Classical electrochemical methods had the advantage that they could be applied in situ to surfaces in electrochemical cells; whereas, the low permeability of electrolytes starkly limited the use of spectroscopic methods. Hence attempts were made to investigate electrode surfaces outside the cell, in ultra-high vac- uum. It was shown that surface behavior was stable under favorable conditions even in high-vacuum. This paved the way for new investigations, such as the surface-specific and angle-dependent spectroscopic studies of adsorption and oxi- dation states of metal and semiconductor crystals, e.g. GaAs, conducted by Karl Jacobi and Wolfgang Ranke.10 Closely related to the investigation of metal and 5 Frisch, Goodall, Greenhow, Holzwarth, Knight, Single-Photon. 6 Eck, Genz, Holzwarth, Iodine Laser. 7 Gerischer, HalbleiterI. Gerischer, HalbleiterII. Gerischer, HalbleiterIII. 8 Pettinger, Tunnelprozesse. 9Tributsch,Desintegration. 10 Jacobi, Ranke, GaAs Surfaces. 185 5 Reshaping the Fritz Haber Institute Heinz Gerischer (1919–1994) Heinz Gerischer was born in the “Luther city,” Wittenberg, where he grew up and went to the Melanchthon-Gymnasium. After graduation, he started his study of chemistry at the University of Leipzig, which he had to interrupt after the outbreak of WWII. In 1941, however, he was able to resume his studies and obtained his diploma in 1944. As a so- called “half-Jew,” he could only con- tinue his university studies because his mentor, Karl Friedrich Bonhoef- fer – along with the physicists Friedrich Hund and Werner Heisenberg as well as one member of the administrative staff – concealed this fact for him. Thus, in violation of the law of the land, he started his graduate studies as Bon- hoeffer’s private research assistant. In 1944-45, he was enlisted by the Todt Organization as a forced laborer. In the Fall of 1945, he returned to Bonhoeffer’s laboratory as his assistant at the Institute for Physical Chemistry of the University of Leipzig and graduated in 1946 with a thesis on oscillating reactions on electrode surfaces. In the same year, he followed his mentor to Berlin as his assistant at the tradition-rich Institute for Physical Chem- istry of the Berlin University.
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