I NTERNATIONAL To Venture Beyond the Atmosphere The Foundation of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics And the Roots of West Geman Space Research

BY ULF von RAUCHHAUPT German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur verwaltung) in Munich serves them Förderung der Wissenschaft - or MPG administratively. in short). Therefore, a rough sketch of The MPG constantly tries to adapt The Max Planck Institute for its most important features during the itself to changes in the world of science. Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE1) in period covered here may be appropri- One way of adaptation is to open up Garching, a small town 35 kilometers ate.2 new institutes when and where promis- north of Munich, ranks among the most Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser ing new fields of basic research are important space research facilities in Wilhelm Society (Kaiser-Wilhelm- opening up. As outlined below, this was Germany. It contributed to most of the Gesellschaft or KWG) and re-founded certainly the case for space research in scientific space missions in which the after the Second World War as the West Germany at the beginning of the country participated: from early sound- MPG, this organization devotes itself to 1960s. The autonomy of the institute ing rocket programs; the HEOS-1 satel- basic research which cannot, or not yet, directors -- dubbed the “Harnack lite in 1968 and the first German easily be pursued within the framework Principle”3 -- has a considerable impact national satellite AZUR in 1969; to of universities. To insure independence, on whether or how new Max Planck present missions such as XMM Newton the MPG is legally a private institution Institutes are founded. The policy is to and CLUSTER-II. To the general pub- but funded almost entirely by public establish them in a tailored fashion lic the MPE became best known for money. Officially, it is not part of specifically for some distinguished, developing and operating the ROSAT Germany’s educational system, though not necessarily established sci- satellite, XMM’s glorious predecessor, although almost all directors of the entist. which scanned the X-ray sky from 1990 MPG’s institutes hold professorial titles At first glance, this is also what to 1999. and supervise theses of students from happened in the case of the MPE. On One of the reasons for the MPE’s nearby universities. All directors of May 15, 1963 the senate of the MPG importance, if not prevalence, for the MPG institutes hold the status of “sci- bestowed upon a small research group West German space research communi- entific members.” Although the posi- of some 15 people the status of a third ty is the fact that it was founded at the tion of the president of the MPG is one Institute within the Max Planck very moment when space technology of the most influential (not only within Institute for Physics and Astrophysics became available for Germany. the MPG but also in German science (MPIPA) in Munich. Before that the Therefore, by telling the story of the politics), the MPG is actually con- research group had operated for 18 MPE’s birth, this paper also deals with trolled by the collective of scientific months as a division of one of the two the birth of West Germany’s space members. Control is executed by a sys- other sub-institutes of the MPIPA. This research in the wake of Sputnik. The tem of committees, such as the senate group had been headed by Reimar Lüst, intention is to describe the historical sit- and the scientific council. The MPG who was now also appointed director of uation which called for the foundation runs research institutes (some 80 at the newly founded MPE. Lüst was an of such an institution and to examine in present) of various sizes and disci- internationally renowned scientist, who some detail the dynamics which finally plines, distributed all over Germany. had just turned forty. However, as will shaped it. The individual Max Planck Institutes -- become clear in the course of this nar- One important part of the story is that is to say, their directors -- are inde- rative, the foundation of the MPE in something rather peculiar for the (West) pendent in the sense that they are many ways deviated from the Harnack German research system: MPE’s moth- almost completely free to decide on Principle, with Lüst’s role being con- er organization, the Max Planck Society their own research programs. The siderably more complex. In this context for the Advancement of Science (in MPG’s central headquarters (General it is interesting to note that for Lüst the Q U E S T 8 : 2 32 foundational directorship of particles interacting with the terrestrial the country’s first genuine (or solar-terrestrial) magnetic fields, an space science facility was just area of research which traditionally one step in one of the most belongs to geophysics. Extraterrestrial splendid careers in German physics therefore contributes to both science. In 1969 he became astronomy and geophysics. chairman of the National Science Council (Wissen PREHISTORY schaftsrat), in 1972 president of the MPG and in 1984 direc- The Birth of Space Science tor general of the European Space Agency (ESA). While Extraterrestrial physics is determined the dominant role of Lüst (and by its means of research rather than its some other individuals) for the objects. A few years before the MPE foundational history of the came into being, those means suddenly MPE requires some focus on experienced a qualitative improvement human protagonists, due refer- beyond measure with the launch of the ence to the relevant political Sputnik-1 satellite by the Soviet Union and scientific contexts is on October 4, 1957. Despite the pletho- essential. In the case of the ra of political and military implications, MPE this context especially the official setting for Sputnik was a features the beginning of the scientific one (as it was for its ill-fated Space Age and the European American rival Vanguard).5 In the years efforts to join it.4 around 1957/58 a maximum of solar Reimar Lüst in the mid 1960s. Image courtesy of Jahrbuch de MPG 1968 activity was expected to increase the DEFINING EXTRATER- intensity and variety of phenomena in RESTRIAL PHYSICS the plasma and magnetic fields around Earth’s atmosphere that are not the Earth. Only a few of them can be accessible by ground-based obser- In 1998 the MPE employed 335 peo- detected from the ground, such as auro- vations alone. ple, 183 of whom were scientists of all ras in high latitudes or perturbations of levels. There are six research depart- long-distance radio transmissions. The instrumentation -- much more ments, four of them headed by a direc- Now, in the wake of the Second World than the subject -- distinguishes the tor and scientific member of the MPG. War, a new technology was becoming MPE from other institutions with One is devoted to theory, another to lab- available that promised a new dimen- research interests in the sky. This oratory investigation of astronomy- sion of both warfare and science: rock- instrumentation is flown on a variety of related physical processes. However, etry. platforms: balloons; sounding rockets; the bulk of MPE’s scientific work is in After 1945 both the US and the Earth-orbiting satellites; and space the observational domain. The space USSR had exploited the know-how of probes. plasma department is active in various the rocket makers of Peenemünde.6 Because “extraterrestrial’’ is such a types of space-borne measurements of Among the first scientific aims of rock- tongue-twisting word, it will often be the physical properties of the particles etry was to gain knowledge about the used synonymously here with the word and field pervading the Solar System. higher layers of the atmosphere, the “space research’’ (Weltraumforschung), The remaining three departments are ionosphere and the region where the although this term is ambiguously used. engaged in instrumentation develop- atmosphere merges with space. This Sometimes “space research’’ applies to ment and astronomical observations in knowledge was badly needed to keep space-borne in-situ measurements only, the gamma, X-ray and infrared/submil- ballistic missiles on their prescribed tra- sometimes to all sorts of research done limeter range -- i.e. all those parts of the jectories. Even before the war was over, in space. Extraterrestrial physics, how- electromagnetic spectrum that are not Erich Regener, Germany’s leading ever, comprises both measurements of accessible from the ground. upper atmosphere researcher at the the immediate environment of the From this account one may readily time, had built the first rocket-borne instrument (“in-situ’’) and observations infer a definition for “extraterrestrial instruments for the V2 rocket. They of objects that may be as far away as physics.” It is were designed to measure densities, quasars. Many of those in-situ measure- pressures and temperatures as well as ments are aimed at charged subatomic physics of processes beyond the ionization and UV radiation, but never Q U E S T 8 : 2 33 flew before the end of the war. In the equip France with an independent COSPAR Space Science Symposium early 1950s rocketry had made consid- nuclear capability. Great Britain, unlike took place in Nice in January 1960, erable progress. To promote the “peace- Germany, France, the US and the space scientists eventually had their ful application’’ of the new technology USSR, was a nation without any pre- international platform. during the next solar maximum, the war tradition in rocketry. Nevertheless, International Geophysical Year (IGY) the British soon began the development The Situation In West Germany was proposed for 1957/58 by a group of of their own ballistic missile, the infa- Before 1959 scientists and welcomed by the govern- mous Blue Streak, in support of their ments of the Cold War rivals.7 In 1955 nuclear weapons program. Scientific It was only now that West both superpowers announced the interest in space in the UK was stimu- Germany became involved.9 Unlike the launch of an Earth-orbiting satellite as lated by a conference in Oxford in other countries mentioned, there was no part of the IGY. August 1953, where Sidney Chapman national space activity of any kind until The first American satel- well after the Sputnik shock. lite, Explorer 1, was launched This was, of course, a direct on January 31, 1958. It also consequence of allied was the first to perform extra- research restrictions imposed terrestrial research. Sputnik-1 after the destruction caused had only carried a simple by the V-2 missiles during the radio transmitter and Sputnik- war. Rocket-related research 2 (launched November 3, was much harder to resume 1957) the dog Laika. Explorer than, for instance, nuclear 1, on the other hand, was research. After all, the physi- equipped with detectors cists who had remained in which allowed James van National Socialist Germany Allen to eventually discover after the beginning of the war the radiation belts -- regions had never built an A-bomb around the Earth where Max Planck Society’s leading men at the end of the 1950s: President Otto Hahn nor even succeeded in (left); Ludwig Biermann (center background); Werner Heisenberg (center); and charged particles are trapped Ernst Telschow (right), MPG’s influential secretary general. The picture was taken achieving a self-sustaining by the Earth’s magnetic field. on the celebration of Max Planck’s 100th birthday on April 23, 1958. chain reaction in a nuclear Technological advance thus Image courtesy Archive of the Max Planck Society reactor. Despite allied control provided new research tools and the acquainted his countrymen with the law No. 25 and subsequent regulations, Cold War created an environment in the American activities and the prospects resuming non-military nuclear research US which was beneficial to space sci- these would have for geophysics, a tra- was discussed as early as 1952.10 When ence. Not only was Congress now will- ditionally strong field in the UK.8 This the Paris Treaty of May 1955 allowed ing to spend serious money on space. spurred the development of a British the Federal Republic of Germany to The newly founded NASA took over solid-fueled sounding rocket, the develop nuclear technology for peace- from rival military services or tradition- Skylark, which was first tested in 1957 ful purposes, a special Federal Ministry ally private realms of research. NASA in Woomera, Australia. of Nuclear Affairs was set up the same provided a firm institutional setting for Despite the “peaceful application’’ year. Yet rockets remained a tacit taboo, effectively turning taxpayers’ money rhetoric, space research depended on even though the Paris Treaty allowed into technological innovation, scientif- military technology. Therefore, inter- the Germans to resume rocket research, ic progress and national glory. national scientific cooperation in an provided, however, they didn’t con- France and Britain, the other two institutionalized fashion was not easily struct guided missiles with a range prospective nuclear powers, also joined established. But the Soviet success and greater than 70 km. the space club, but to a considerably the subsequent reorganization of The terror of the V2 missiles was, lesser degree. With the help of former American space research changed the of course, well remembered. London Peenemünde technicians and initially political context considerably. In alone had been hit by some 1200 of for military use, the French developed October 1958 the International Council them during the last winter of the war, the Veronique, a liquid-fueled sounding of Scientific Unions (which included 2700 people had been killed there and rocket with which an extensive pro- scientists from the Soviet Union and its another 6500 injured. V2 strikes were gram of upper atmosphere research was allies) established the Committee on less destructive than conventional area undertaken during the 1950s. That was Space Research (COSPAR). It still took bombings, but since the missiles flew about all until Charles de Gaulle COSPAR a full year of negotiations to very high before hitting the ground with returned to power in 1958, resolved to come into operation. But when the first three times the speed of sound, the lack Q U E S T 8 : 2 34 of any chance for premonition caused a nent figure in post-war German to Germany. For instance, on the occa- “stultifying psychological impact.’’11 physics. He was advisor on nuclear sion of a conference in Aachen in This legacy of war was the major obta- issues to Chancellor Adenauer13 and September 1959, Hugh Dryden and cle to any officially coordinated space chaired a number of important commit- Homer Newell of NASA asked for a research activity in West Germany dur- tees. One of them was the Arbeitskreis conversation with Walter Dieminger ing the 1950s. It also prevented the Kernphysik (Nuclear Physics Working (born 1907), the director of the Institute involvement of an interested military Panel), a subcommittee of the Deutsche for Ionospheric Research of the Max sector that might have spent money on Atomkommission (German Nuclear Planck Institute for Aeronomy (MPAe). space technology. In a preface to a 1960 Commission), responsible for deciding They told him that the US would be study report on space science in on funding in nuclear science. willing to fly West German experiments Germany conducted by the Deutsche Heisenberg was not an expert in space on American rockets or satellites.16 Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG -- the research, although he was scientifically These offers triggered West Germany’s central public funding organization for interested in some of its aspects, entry into the Space Age. The Max academic research in Germany) the notably cosmic rays. This interest was Planck Society, Heisenberg’s institu- authors wrote: “In the Federal Republic guided by the high-energy reactions of tional home, felt especially encouraged we face not only the problem that elementary particles. Before the advent to go space-borne. Here the largest space research requires large amounts of large accelerators, these were only share of the tiny West German extrater- of money and scientific resources, but observable in the interactions of cosmic restrial community was based. also the psychological difficulty that it rays with the Earth’s atmosphere. Experimental space research was done is based on rocketry.’’12 When it came The federal government proposed there at the two institutes in Lindau to rockets, the Adenauer Administration to Heisenberg that the Arbeitskreis which together formed the MPAe: kept as low a profile as possible. Kernphysik should now also consider Dieminger’s Institute for Ionospheric There was some upper atmosphere space research.14 However, the idea that Research; and the Institute for research done in West Germany in the West Germany should now enter the Stratospheric Physics, headed by Erich 1950s, but rocket-related space Space Age was not born in Bonn, but in Regener’s successor Julius Bartels research did not exist, with the excep- Washington. There, Sputnik had consid- (1899-1964), a renowned geophysi- tion of two flights in 1954, when erably altered the attitude towards inter- cist.17 Theoretical space science was German instruments flew on French national collaboration in space. At the covered by the Institute for Veroniques. These instruments had NATO summit in December 1957 a sci- Astrophysics (IAP) in Munich, a sub- been built by German scientists based entific committee was established and institute of Heisenberg’s MPIPA. Its in the former French sector (one of the the European member countries were director, Ludwig Biermann (1907- four sectors that Germany was divided encouraged to conclude agreements 1986), was internationally perhaps the into by the allies after the war): Erich with the US to launch satellite experi- most respected of all German astro- Regener of the Institute for ments on American launch vehicles. physicists. In 1951 Biermann had inter- Stratospheric Physics (in Weissenau); However, the obvious political and preted observations of the plasma tails Karl Rawer of the Ionospheric Institute military interests articulated here pre- of comets in terms of a strong efflux of (in Breisach near Freiburg); Karl-Otto vented unanimous approval in the inter- particles from the Sun.18 The American Kiepenheuer of the Fraunhofer Institute national scientific community. Instead, theorist Eugene Parker dubbed this for Solar Research (in Freiburg); and NATO’s commendations helped trigger efflux “solar wind” and interpreted it as Hubert Schardin of the Institute for self-organization among the space sci- a continuous expansion of coronal gas. Ballistic Research (St. Louis in Alsace). entists, notably the foundation of The existence of the solar wind was The contacts obviously had been made COSPAR and the initiative of physi- eventually confirmed in 1959-1962 by considerably below the political level. cists Pierre Auger and Edoardo Amaldi direct measurements performed by the to establish a European Space Research Luna-2, Explorer-10 and Mariner-2 Hands Across The Sea (1959) Organisation. It therefore took the civil- space probes.19 ian NASA, founded in October 1958, The situation changed in 1959. In and its skilled appointee for internation- TOWARDS THE FOUNDATION September of that year the German al affairs, Arnold Frutkin, to initiate OF THE MPE Federal Ministry of Nuclear Affairs, cooperation between the US and scien- which basically served as a department tists abroad.15 In 1959 NASA officials The MPG’s First Steps Into Space of research, approached Werner began to tour Western Europe, offering (Late 1959 And Early 1960) Heisenberg (1901-1976). Heisenberg American support to its space scien- was the director of the MPIPA in tists. Over the Christmas holidays of Munich and certainly the most promi- NASA’s representatives also came 1959 the Minister of Nuclear Affairs, Q U E S T 8 : 2 35 Siegfried Balke who lived in Munich, founding fathers were not quite explicit his PhD in 1951 at Göttingen met Heisenberg and Biermann to talk where actually to start. For the time University as a student of Carl about space research within the MPG. being, 100,000 DM in the first year and Friedrich von Weizsäcker (who himself However, three months after Dieminger a wooden cabin in Garching to work in had been a student of Heisenberg) and had met the NASA officials in Aachen were considered sufficient.22 spent 1955/56 as a Fulbright Fellow at in September, the matter must already This letter of Biermann, Dieminger the Enrico Fermi Institute of the have been discussed to some extent and Bartels to Hahn actually is the ini- University of Chicago and at Princeton. within the MPG, at least informally, tial document of the MPE. Five days In Chicago he had worked with John without leaving written traces. This later, on January 4, 1960, the three met Simpson. Together with his Chicago conjecture is suggested by the fact that Hahn and the issue was immediately colleague Eugene Parker and experi- a fairly elaborate concept was already settled. At its next meeting in March mentalist James van Allen in Iowa,25 available when the Christmas chat now 1960 the senate of the MPG passed the Simpson was one of the doyens of a triggered immediate action. On bill with only two changes: funds were new branch of science at the intersec- Wednesday December 30, 1959 the slightly increased; and the Max Planck tion of nuclear, plasma and geophysics: three directors of space-interested Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPK) the interaction of cosmic rays with the MPIs, Biermann, Dieminger and under Wolfgang Gentner (1906-1980) terrestrial magnetic field. Lüst had Bartels, wrote a letter to MPG president joined the team.23 All that existed so far become interested in the theoretical Otto Hahn.20 In this letter they proposed was a working group of five high-rank- aspects of this research field already that their three MPIs should form a ing elderly Max Planck directors after his PhD. “Working Group for Extra-Terrestrial (Bartels, Dieminger, Gentner, Heisen- However, after Lüst came back Research Within the MPG.’’21 This berg, and Biermann) eager to promote a from the United States in early 1957, he working group would do the necessary new field, but no research group to do somewhat (but not entirely) shifted his preparatory work to set up a new the actual science.24 Indeed, manpower research to fusion plasma physics -- a research group at the MPIPA in was even more a problem than money. very promising field in those days, Munich. The location issue had already Above all they needed someone to head especially within the MPG, where dis- been settled at this point: “Those of the the new research group. Due to its cussions of what later became the Max three involved who are not based in decade-long absence, Germany had Planck Institute for Plasma Physics Munich, do favour the working group nobody with enough experience in the (IPP) had started in 1956. Having held to be located in Munich.’’ In the first state-of-the-art hardware and organiza- several other posts within the Max three years the directors of MPAe and tional issues of extraterrestrial research. Planck Society earlier in the 1950s, IAP of MPIPA were supposed to set up There was, of course, considerable Lüst was promoted to group leader for the extraterrestrial budget together. The experience in places like Pasadena, astrophysical plasmas at the Institute idea was to assign some five scientists Iowa City or Chicago, but who would for Astrophysics in September 1958. In and eight technicians to do research leave a thriving “researchscape’’ to 1959 he accepted an invitation to lec- with the “new research tools,’’ that is to head a small group of people in a cabin ture at New York University as a visit- plan and build scientific instruments to in Garching? Biermann -- always in ing professor for mathematical physics be flown on rockets and satellites. close touch with Heisenberg -- took the at the Courant Institute. During this The research topics specified were initiative. stay in New York City, Lüst received no the ones being undertaken abroad at the less than three job offers -- one more time, especially in the US. Topping the Biermann and Lüst (1959/60) tempting than the other -- to Rochester, list were the radiation belts, cosmic New York and the new Nuclear rays and their interaction with the ter- Biermann seemed to have the Research Center in Karlsruhe. restrial magnetic field, an area clearest idea of what the new research Biermann, however, was not particular- Biermann’s institute had already been group should look like. It should be ly pleased. He needed Lüst as a leading working on theoretically. Others were experimental, but with strong ties to plasma expert with a strong astrophysi- solar activity, X-ray and UV astronomy, theory, especially plasma theory. He cal background, now that fusion plasma research of the upper atmosphere with was the one who had found the first evi- physics began to dominate the MPIPA. small sounding rockets and turning raw dence for interplanetary plasma and But the only way to keep Lüst was to data obtained by (foreign) satellites into that was the sort of thing he was inter- promote him again. Biermann could not information usable for scientists. This ested in up there. offer him a professorship, but, backed reads like an account of the research This is when the 36-year old by Heisenberg, offered him scientific fields later covered by the MPE in the Reimar Lüst entered the stage. Lüst membership in the MPG. This was just mid-1960s and after, although weights (born 1923) was a theoretical astro- as good from the financial point of view shifted considerably. However, the physicist by training. He had received and almost as good for his reputation.26 Q U E S T 8 : 2 36 In July 1959 Biermann and Heisenberg finished his habilitation in January Henk van de Hulst from Holland; jointly wrote a letter to Lüst. After men- 1960. Soon after, Lüst was offered Edoardo Amaldi and Luigi Broglio tioning the progress made towards a another chair, this time at Utrecht from Italy; and Sir Harrie Massey from plasma fusion research lab in Garching, University, which he also declined. the United Kingdom, to name just some they wrote: Reimar Lüst was appointed scientific of the most prominent ones. West member on March 16, 1960 and shortly Germany was initially represented by Naturally, this means that the afterwards was also promoted to divi- Julius Bartels. Bartels, the director of importance of plasma physics sion leader for astrophysical plasmas, the Institute for Stratospheric Physics won’t decrease at the Institute for which resulted in a higher salary than of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics -- although it is his previous position as group leader. Aeronomy, was a distinguished figure planned to do theoretical work His appointment as a scientific member both in the MPG and internationally. He concurrently also in Garching. In of the MPG came on the very day that attended the Nice symposium and the order to keep a reasonable balance the “Working Group for Extra- subsequent informal meeting at with regard to astrophysics in the Terrestrial Research Within the MPG” Auger’s apartment in Paris and was narrower sense, it is intended to was approved, although there was no invited to the first “official’’ talks assign to you to the position of connection between the two yet at this among European space researchers to division leader at the Institute for point. However, during the year 1960 be held in London on April 29, 1960. Astrophysics... We also would two developments, one prominent and However, Bartels was preoccupied with immediately, i.e. as soon as we political, the other inconspicuous and the directorship of his institute and a know that you will stay with us, scientific, jockeyed Lüst into chair at Göttingen University and also apply for your appointment as a Biermann’s and Heisenberg’s plans for was heavily involved in analyzing data scientific member of the institute. observational extraterrestrial research. obtained during the International Considering the situation, there is Geophysical Year. Having no time to obviously no doubt that this appli- Lüst In Space (1960) seriously become engaged in the cation will be accepted ...you European enterprise, he sent his deputy would be responsible primarily The political development con- Alfred Ehmert to London instead, who for the field of theoretical astro- cerned Europe. The first calls for reported from the meeting to the work- physics -- although you are of European cooperation in space had ing group. course free to contribute to theo- come not long after the Sputnik shock In early October 1960, when the retical plasma physics as well, as prompted the US to look for collabora- scientists’ discussions had definitively you have done so far. The particu- tors in space among its NATO allies. An reached the political domain, the Royal lar concern of the one of us (B.) obvious model for a joint European Society in London hosted a meeting of (sc. Biermann) naturally is that space project was the nuclear research a technical working group to prepare theoretical astrophysics, which center CERN near Geneva. There a 25 intergovernmental talks on how was the basis of all the other GeV proton synchrotron had just Western Europe could coordinate its developments at the Institute for reached its design energy in November efforts in space. Now West German sci- Astrophysics, will again become 1959, providing European scientists entists were needed to represent their stronger after the fast expansion with the world’s most powerful acceler- country in serious political negotia- especially of plasma physics...27 ator and demonstrating that European tions. Again, Bartels sent Ehmert, but collaboration could work. This was for- Lüst was also chosen to go. Interestingly, the application letter tunate timing for Pierre Auger and At first sight the choice of Lüst to president Otto Hahn soliciting Lüst’s CERN’s Edoardo Amaldi. The two seems a little strange, since he did not scientific membership was delivered physicists, one French, one Italian, have any experience preparing him for with a slightly different pitch. There together had hatched the idea of setting the job, neither in space-related tech- Biermann and Heisenberg wrote: up a European Organization for Space nology nor in international science “Considering the importance to which Research in the spring of 1959. Now management. He was, in his own the area of plasma physics has grown the time was ripe for their plans to sur- words, “a complete newcomer.’’30 also in our institute in the context of face at the first COSPAR Space Science However, the young theoretician had fusion, we feel that especially now it Symposium in Nice, France in January obviously attracted the necessary atten- would have been a great loss if Herr 1960.29 tion in the summer of 1960, when three Lüst had left us.’’28 Nice triggered a series of meetings gentlemen from the Deutsche Forsch- It helped. With the prospect of sci- among the most senior people of the ungsgemeinschaft (DFG) paid a visit to entific membership, Lüst declined all European space-interested scientific the MPIPA in Munich. Gotthard other offers, returned to Munich and community: Pierre Auger from France; Gambke, Rudolf Kerscher and Walter Q U E S T 8 : 2 37 Kertz were surveying the West German atoms and excite the ions, making scientific community in preparation for them visible in optical wave- the earlier mentioned DFG study report lengths and therefore observable titled “Memoir on the Situation of from the ground. This “artificial Space Research in the Federal Republic comet’’ would then trace the mag- of Germany.’’31 The DFG had been netic field carried by the solar asked for this stocktaking by the wind and reveal its structure and German federal government in July behavior. In 1961 a paper with 1960. The memoir was explicitly detailed calculations was pub- ordered as the basis for the negotiations lished by Biermann, Herrmann at the London meeting in October. Ulrich Schmidt, Reimar Lüst and Gambke, Kerscher and Kertz also inter- his first wife Rhea, who was an viewed Lüst, the leader of the institute’s astronomer and expert on comet division for the theory of astrophysical tails.32 The major part of the work plasmas, and eventually included him was done during 1960 and in the advisory committee. Its fifteen showed that the idea should work members discussed the final version of with just a few kilograms of the study report on September 27, 1960. metal.33 Apart from Kertz, Lüst was the only This was to be the first proj- non-senior scientist in this committee, ect of the yet to be created extra- which otherwise comprised only Max terrestrial research group. It was Planck directors and chair-holding full new, but comparatively inexpen- professors. A few days later, at the sive. It was simple, but theoreti- Peter Meyer, around 1979. request of the DFG, he accompanied cally interesting, “good science, Image courtesy of Archive of the Max Planck Society Ehmert, Gambke and Kerscher to the no instruments on board but a was not particularly qualified to lead it. London meeting as a German scientific strong box filled with cheap chemicals, Instead, Biermann and Heisenberg saw delegate. Obviously, Heisenberg and and spectacular phenomena in the event him and his division at the IAP as a sort 34 Biermann welcomed this very much. of success.’’ Moreover, it was plasma of a theoretical partner to the leader of physics and it was in space -- thus eli- the planned experimental extraterrestri- Biermann’s Dream (1960) gible for the funding now available. al group. The leading candidate for that The final goal, however, was interplan- post was Peter Meyer, an old friend of The fact that Biermann approved etary space, which could only be Lüst’s from his days at Göttingen of his leading expert for astrophysical reached with the most powerful launch University. Meyer was a former post- plasma theory practicing politics is less vehicles of the time. A special relation- doc at the MPI for Physics, who went to surprising if one considers that the situ- ship between the projected extraterres- John Simpson’s Institute at the ation had changed considerably since trial research group and the political University of Chicago in 1951. There late 1959. Fusion plasma physics now levels which would ultimately have to he became very active in constructing definitively had its own home in the provide the means to make the artificial detectors for cosmic ray research. Institute for Plasma Physics, founded in comet shine was therefore very desir- Biermann and Lüst approached Meyer, June/July 1960, as a result of which able. Since Lüst was involved both sci- who visited Munich in the summer of Biermann’s Institute for Astrophysics entifically in Biermann’s promising 1960. One result of their talks was a could now again exclusively focus on idea and politically in Europe’s space more realistic estimate of the funds astrophysics. Moreover, the prospect of efforts, he became a key figure in the which the extraterrestrial group would extraterrestrial research had a consider- MPG’s extraterrestrial endeavor. His need: at least one million DM a year, able impact on Biermann’s own excellent connections with the United plus another million for a proper labo- research interests as well. In 1960 States were another plus. But there was ratory building in Garching. Minister of Biermann had worked out an idea on a problem; Lüst was a theoretician with Nuclear Affairs Siegfried Balke was how to directly probe the solar wind. A no experience in hardware issues. “not shocked’’ as Biermann reported spacecraft could be used to carry a pay- these numbers to him. Hopes of getting Waiting For Peter Meyer load consisting of a certain alkali metal Meyer to Garching rose. (1960-61)35 into interplanetary space. Once the Meyer, however, hesitated, despite metal is vaporized by a sufficient the fact that the annual budget was exothermic chemical reaction, the solar Because hardware was to become raised to three million DM and radiation would photo-ionize the metal the daily bread of the new group, Lüst Q U E S T 8 : 2 38 Heisenberg made sure that Meyer Bölkow,37 demanded that any European German space community. Biermann would be appointed scientific member effort had to be accompanied by a had to do act quickly. with the conditions of a full professor strong national space program in order He knew that Lüst would be inter- (Ordinarius) as soon as he came. The to become an equal partner in the pro- ested in a professorship at the negotiations carried on well into 1961, jected European Launcher Devel- University of Munich (LMU) in combi- but Meyer never came. His letters to opment Organization (ELDO). The nation with his position at the Max Biermann and Lüst display two reasons German space scientists thoroughly Planck Society, but only if he could get why he eventually declined the offer. agreed. Many of them soon shared access to Diploma students. When First, Meyer’s wife held a good position Meyer’s fears that the country’s Heisenberg approached Fritz Bopp, the as a physicist in the Argonne National European devotion would eventually head of the theoretical physics division Laboratory and would not have found drain their very resources. The expected at LMU, Bopp didn’t like the idea. A any comparable employment in German contributions to both ELDO Max Planck scientist supervising Munich. Second, Meyer suspected that and ESRO for 1962 were initially esti- Diploma theses and thereby luring the European efforts to invest in a “not mated to be 55 million DM. That the young people away from the university very promising’’ launch vehicle devel- government should additionally spend institutes was definitively not in his opment program would eventually at least twice that amount on national interest. Heisenberg’s efforts to provide swallow up all the money, leaving too space research projects became the sci- a professorship for Lüst remained futile little for scientific payloads. This dan- entists’ mantra for the years to come. for the time being. ger was quite real. In 1960 the British Being both a witness to and a par- had begun to talk other European coun- ticipant in the discussions on Europe’s Die Abteilung Lüst (late 1961- tries into carrying out a joint launch space efforts, Lüst realized that it was spring 1963) vehicle project. They wanted their enor- high time to establish a space science mously expensive Blue Streak missile, infrastructure on a national level where In the late autumn of 1961 a group which as a liquid-fueled rocket had these requested financial resources of six people, three of them scientists, turned out to be militarily useless, to could be effectively allocated. An eventually took up work in the become the first stage of a European important piece of this infrastructure Garching cabin,39 with Lüst having the satellite launcher. was the extraterrestrial group in sole responsibility. Informally known The effort to get Meyer only Garching. The situation called for as Die Abteilung Lüst (The Division delayed things. Meanwhile, European immediate action. Following a list Lüst), it was first referred to in an space efforts had gained momentum. Meyer had given him earlier, Lüst start- important memo dated January 16, COPERS, a preparatory commission ed buying equipment and looking for 1962, which was signed by both for the planned European Space people to employ. In doing so Lüst Heisenberg and Biermann.40 This memo Research Organization (ESRO), the grew into a new role. In September probably was the result of a conversa- forerunner of today’s ESA, had been 1961, at which time Meyer had not yet tion of Heisenberg and Biermann with established at an intergovernmental finally declined, Biermann wrote to Lüst, in which the latter had apparently conference in Meyrin, Switzerland at Heisenberg: convinced them of the need to eventu- the end of 1960. At its first meeting in “Even if he (Meyer) accepts, I ally turn the division into a Max Planck March 1961 Reimar Lüst was elected would like to give Lüst a larger share of institute. Heisenberg and Biermann coordinating secretary of the scientific- the responsibility for the extraterrestrial declared in a rather circumstantial and technical working group. He was nom- research than previously intended.’’38 fuzzy way: inated for this position by COSPAR’s There was also another reason for president Henk van de Hulst, who had Biermann to improve Lüst’s position. In case of a favourable develop- been involved in offering Lüst a chair at Lüst had been offered the position of ment of the division - to be head- Utrecht University in early1960. Co-Chairman of the Department of ed by Herr Lüst - in respect of Soon, Lüst and his British counter- Space Research at Cornell University instrumental development and part A.W. “Freddy” Lines (who later and shortly afterwards a professorship staff set-up, the signatories will became ESRO’s first technical director) at the California Institute of pursue the conversion of the divi- were assigned to draft ESRO’s future Technology (Caltech). By now (late sion of extraterrestrial research satellite program. 1961) Lüst was the principal scientist into an institute within the Max At the same time the European representing West German space inter- Planck Institute for Physics and launcher issue became a subject of ests on the European stage. If he left for Astrophysics. Herr Lüst shall fierce debate within the West German America, this would cause severe dam- obtain contractual warranty that government.36 The emerging German age, not only to the Institute for he may work in an American insti- space industry, notably Ludwig Astrophysics, but to the whole West tute once every two years for a Q U E S T 8 : 2 39 period up to six months, pro- scientific payloads. These were vided a substitute can be ion cloud experiments inspired arranged.41 by Biermann’s artificial comet idea. The initial experiments An explicit proposal for a consisted of burners filled with separate institute had not even a mixture of powdered alumini- come up during the negotiations um and barium peroxide. In with Peter Meyer, who might November 1962, two were car- have been more inclined to accept ried by French Centaure rock- the offer if the directorship of ets from the Ile de Levant in the such an institute had been at Mediterranean. stake. That Meyer had never Why France? What had raised the issue himself can be become of NASA’s generous seen as further evidence that he offer to fly German equipment never really wanted the job. That on US spacecraft? For one The MPE cabin in Garching near Munich 1961/62. The cabin hosted Biermann or Heisenberg had offices and laboratories of the extraterrestrial research group until a first thing, huge space rockets or never raised it either shows that proper builing was erected in 1965. It was destroyed by fire in 1970. even satellites were not needed Image courtesy of MPE they did not yet consider extrater- for these kinds of experiments restrial research important enough to likely to have thought up themselves). at such an early stage of development. justify the creation of a separate insti- He probably didn’t care too much that Before any artificial comet payload tute. Their reluctance to share power this meant turning the Harnack could be mounted on an expensive with a third director within the MPIPA Principle somewhat upside down. After launch vehicle, the technology of gen- -- even with an experimentalist such as all, the Harnack Principle implies that erating ion clouds had to be developed Meyer -- may have been another factor. the MPG builds an institute around a and thoroughly tested in the more easi- Even in mid 1962, less than a year distinguished scientist, not that a scien- ly accessible parts of space right above before the MPE was actually founded, tist makes the MPG build an institute the Earth’s atmosphere.44 Of course, this Heisenberg was not completely enthu- around him, as was the case here. region was known to be well within the siastic about the idea. In the MPG The MPG administration obvious- boundaries of the magnetosphere, administration Heisenberg was quoted ly didn’t have a problem with this pro- meaning that no solar wind could actu- merely to consider a “step-by-step real- cedure either, although it surely expect- ally be probed. But the ion clouds were ization’’ of Lüst’s plans appropriate.42 ed some time to pass before the expected to trace the terrestrial magnet- Lüst, however, thought otherwise. “favourable development of the depart- ic field instead -- and probably that In the beginning he had supported the ment’’ would allow Lüst’s goal to be wasn’t altogether uninteresting either. idea of an inter-institutional working fulfilled. What they did have a problem In other words, there was no need group of the MPI for Physics and with was the general leave of absence for heavy American launch vehicles for Astrophysics, the MPI for Aeronomy once every two years. This matter, how- the time being. Smaller and consider- and the MPI for Nuclear Physics. Since ever, soon became obsolete, when ably cheaper rockets were available extraterrestrial research didn’t deal with Lüst’s ever intensifying European from the French and they -- apart from new science but rather with new means duties (in 1962 he also became chair of being closer -- were also quite gener- of conducting science, he argued in the the COPERS launching program sub- ous. The first rides of the Garching bar- summer of 1960 that the MPG should committee) made it impossible for him ium burners on the Centaures were free “not yet establish a new institute, but to accept any more visiting professor- of charge. This was courtesy of Jacques intensify and, when required, expand ships in the US. The last ones he Blamont, Scientific and Technical the efforts of those institutes which are accepted before becoming director of director of the newly founded Centre already interested in such matters.”43 the MPE were at MIT from September National d’Etude Spatiales (CNES) and But now he knew from his European to December 1961 and Caltech from a sounding rocket expert, who had per- experience that space research was January to March 1962. Considering formed the French atomic sodium cloud technologically and organizationally that Lüst was now in charge of a experiments with the Veronique in too complex an enterprise to exist as an research group literally under construc- 1959. Lüst had first met Blamont on the appendage to a theoretical institute. tion, it is most surprising that he was occasion of his European debut at the This explains his boldness in asking hardly present in Garching for longer London meeting in October 1960. Heisenberg and Biermann to eventually periods of time. When he told him of Biermann’s ion turn the Abteilung Lüst into a separate Nevertheless, within less than a cloud idea, Blamont offered piggyback institute (an idea which they are not year, Lüst’s group assembled its first rides on the French rockets. Q U E S T 8 : 2 40 Unfortunately, the two November Heisenberg wrote to MPG president desert. This time the Centaure rocket 1962 launch attempts were not success- Adolf Butenandt in January 1963.46 worked and a load of barium was evap- ful. Due to engine failures both rockets Stressing Lüst’s recent offer from orated to form a cloud at a height of 155 had to be destroyed shortly after Göttingen, he urged Butenandt to take km. This was not yet an ion cloud launch. However, Lüst’s people (15 by measures to promote the extraterrestrial (those were produced a year later) and January 1963 -- among them five scien- department to a third institute within it was far from being in interplanetary tists) had made their first step in the the MPIPA on the next possible occa- space. It took another 20 years for extraterrestrial business. sion, which was the 1963 general Biermann’s dream of an artificial comet assembly of the MPG in Augsburg. to come true. The creation of an artifi- The “Little Institute’’ (May 1963) Naturally, Lüst was the one and only cial comet beyond Earth’s magnetos- candidate for the position of director. phere was finally accomplished with Biermann’s battle to keep Lüst in Appointing an MPI director had the MPE’s Ion Release Module, flown Garching was not all over yet. In 1962 become a time-consuming procedure on the AMPTE mission in December Lüst once more received an offer for a just two months before, when the MPG 1984.49 prestigious position, this time a chair senate had agreed on a two-stage proce- for theoretical astrophysics at dure. First, senators were informed CONCLUSION Göttingen University. It is hard to say about the candidate. The final discus- how seriously he considered it, but he sion and appointment of the candidate The MPE is an early German product did make substantial efforts to negotiate took place in a later session in order to of the Space Age. The Second World on the financial endowments of his allow enough time for the invitation War had boosted the development of chair in Göttingen.45 However, this and discussion of expert opinions on rocketry, a new technology which first effort eventually paid off, since it obvi- the candidate’s scientific and personal remained reserved for the winners of ously caused the Max Planck official- qualifications. In Lüst’s case, this the war. Then the Sputnik shock pro- dom to procure Lüst with his own little scheme was readily abandoned. moted a considerable shift in the politi- MPI much earlier than one would have Butenandt himself proposed to appoint cal context. Rockets and satellites now expected. Before anyone could judge Lüst within one session. Also, Carl became Cold War weapons, too. The the “favourable development’’ of the Wagner of the MPG scientific council US allowed limited proliferation of research group based on scientific could not see any need for outside space technology from the classified results (not to mention publications), expert opinions on Lüst, considering military domain into civilian science. the pending offer from Göttingen This change of policy gave German and the latest news from Paris, researchers access to the technological where Lüst was asked to become means of performing scientific research scientific director and deputy beyond the atmosphere. In 1959 NASA director general of ESRO.47 But it offered launch opportunities to German was clear to everybody what the scientists, but Germany’s capabilities in reason for the hurry was. As is this field were not yet sufficient to mentioned in the proceedings of immediately accept that offer. The the meeting: “The gentlemen MPG provided a suitable institutional Heisenberg and Biermann have framework for establishing such a capa- asked to speed up the procedure in bility for three reasons. First, it was part order to assure Herr Lüst’s remain- of its policy to deal with newly emerg- ing within the MPG.’’48 On May 15 ing fields of science too difficult to the senate approved the creation of cope with at the universities. Second, the MPE. A popular MPE anecdote because the largest share of the few relates that after the session space-related activities in Germany was Butenandt left the hall where the already domiciled in MPIs. And finally senators had been meeting and on because of Werner Heisenberg. seeing Lüst exclaimed: “Da haben Heisenberg was a key figure in sci- Sie Ihr Institütchen.’’ (“There you ence politics in the early Federal have your little institute.’’) Republic of Germany. Alhough he was On that very day the institute’s not an expert in space science to the

The French Centaure sounding rocket in Hammaguir, first successful experiment flew same extent as in nuclear or elementary Algeria, November 1965. The person on the left is MPE’s from a French military launch pad particle physics, Heisenberg committed chief chemist Hermann Foeppl. Image courtesy of MPE near Hammaguir in the Algerian himself to promoting the new field. His Q U E S T 8 : 2 41 the hubs of early ACKNOWLEDGMENTS space physics. Afterwards, he I am very grateful to Reimar Lüst for succeeded in main- the permission to use his files kept at taining and expand- the Archive for the History of the Max ing his personal Planck Society in Berlin-Dahlem. I American connec- would also like to thank Marion tions, which certainly Kazemi and her colleagues at the contributed to the Dahlem Archive for their friendly help numerous offers he and Helmut Rechenberg for giving me received for faculty access to the Heisenberg files at the positions at choice Max Planck Institute for Physics in universities. When he Munich. I also thank the staff of the

Reimer Lüst in Bidon, Algeria at MPE’s second rocket campaign in the Sahara became involved in Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Desert in February 1964. European space ef- Physics in Garching for their assis- Image courtesy MPE forts in October tance, among them Rosmarie Mayr- fellow director of the Institute for 1960, he quickly Ihbe, who kindly scanned some of the Astrophysics in Munich, Ludwig extended his network to London and pictures. For their careful reading of Biermann, took a special professional Paris. earlier versions of the manuscript and interest in the new research possibili- Lüst therefore belonged to two net- their useful suggestions, I am very ties. This situation triggered the plan for works at the same time. Because he was grateful to Silja von Rauchhaupt, a coordinated extraterrestrial enterprise part of the “inner’’ MPI network, he Marcus Popplow, David McGee, Dieter among a group of senior MPG scien- became part of Biermann’s and Hoffmann, Skuli Sigurdsson and Jürgen tists led by Heisenberg and Biermann. Heisenberg’s extraterrestrial plans. His Renn. I also would like to thank Since the new technology was promis- participation in Biermann’s artificial Helmuth Trischler for valuable tips and ing also for other disciplines represent- comet idea was his initial scientific step Cathy Carson for stimulating discus- ed in the MPG, the enterprise started as towards experimental space research. sions. Very special thanks to Prof. a collaborative effort between three His connections in the “outer’’ interna- Jürgen Renn at the Max Planck Institute MPIs. However, the unanimous deci- tional network, however, drove the for the History of Science in Berlin for sion to locate the new activity in dynamics of the foundation of the his hospitality and kind support. Munich suggests that Biermann and MPE. Not only was the pace consider- Heisenberg dominated the discussion ably accelerated by the frequent offers from early on. which Lüst received from abroad but he From the very beginning, the also knew from his international experi- MPG’s extraterrestrial enterprise was ence that there soon had to be some real Ulf von Rauchhaupt received a B.A. defined by its means rather than its sub- West German space science activity if in Philosophy from ject. Since these means were rockets the country was to be on an equal foot- the Munich Institute for Philosophy and satellites provided from abroad, ing with England, France and Italy in in 1991, a Diploma in Physics any such project had to be managed the emerging European Space Research from the Technical University Munich both at MPI level and in international Organization. This encouraged him to in 1993 and his Ph.D. in collaboration. Therefore, a staff leader actively embark on the formation of the Astrophysics from the University of the planned extraterrestrial group Garching research group while the of Munich in 1997. Currently he is a should ideally match three criteria: negotiations with Peter Meyer were still Research Fellow at the Max Planck expertise in experimental space pending. The very fact that Lüst dealt Institute for the History of Science research; compatibility with the with the MPG’s extraterrestrial project in Berlin. There he is working on a MPIPA; and superior international con- from an international perspective there- book on the history of space science nections. The young theoretician fore enhanced his commitment for this in West Germany. Reimar Lüst satisfied two of these cri- project and eventually formed its final - teria perfectly. He was a home-grown - and finally successful -- institutional Max Planck physicist on best terms setting. with Biermann and Heisenberg. Lüst also had spent more than a year in John Simpson’s research group at the University of Chicago, definitely one of Q U E S T 8 : 2 42 The author made the following inter- more political focus is provided by e. g.: W. McDougall, 18 L. Biermann, “Kometenschweife und solare ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Korpuskularstrahlung,” Zeits-chrift für Astrophysik 29, views for the article: Space Age, (New York: Basic Books, 1985: 74-140). 274-286 (1951).

6 See for instance: G. Greschner, Zur Geschichte der 19 K. Hufbauer, Exploring the Sun: Solar Science Since - Reimar Lüst, March 30, 1999 in deutschen Raumfahrt, in: K. Kaiser, S. F. v. Welck (eds.), Galileo, (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, Hamburg; Weltraum und internationale Politik, (München: 1991: 222-239). Oldenbourg, 1987: 255-278) and references therein. For a comprehensive account of how V-2 technology boost- 20 Bartels, Biermann and Dieminger to Hahn Dec 30, ed US space science, see: D. DeVorkin, Science With A 1959 (Werner Heisenberg Archives). - Gerhard Haerendel, April 13, Vengeance: How the Military Created the US Space 1999 in Garching; Sciences After World War II, (New York: Springer, 21This is the earliest recorded mention of the term “extra- 1993). terrestrial’’ (the hyphen got lost in the course of 1960). According to a letter of Bartels to Gentner (Oct 5 1960) - Jakob Stöcker, April 14, 1999 in 7 The Eisenhower administration in particular. By the word had been coined by Siegfried Balke for politi- launching a civilian satellite, Eisenhower planned to cal reasons. From 1959 until the establishment of the Garching; and establish a precedent which would allow future US Deutsche Kommission für Weltraumforschung (the reconnaissance satellites to fly over Soviet territory German Commission for Space Research) in 1962 there without violating international law. See: W. McDougall, were ongoing quarrels among several federal depart- -Walter Dieminger, November 11, ...The Heavens and the Earth, 118ff. ments about who might be responsible for space affairs 1999 in Northeim. (see Trischler, 401). The fight was especially fierce 8 P. Willmore, Ionospheric Research By Rockets and between Balke and his cabinet colleagues Seebohm Satellites in Europe in the 1960s, in: A. Russo (ed.): (transportation) and Strauß (defense). To prevent space Science Beyond the Atmosphere: The History of Space science from becoming another issue here, Balke looked Research in Europe. Proceedings of a symposium held in for a name without explicit reference to “space.’’ Bartels REFERENCES Palermo, 5-7 November 1992, (Noordwijk: ESA HSR (and others) disliked Balke’s solution because of its lack Special, 1993: 67-73); H. Massey, M. Robins, History of “public appeal’’ (Bartels to Gentner Oct 5 1960).

1 of British Space Science, (Cambridge: Cambridge Until 1991, when the Max Planck Institute for Physics 22 and Astrophysics (MPIPA) became separated into three University Press, 1986: 7f). In late 1959 the MPG had acquired an area of land in Garching, south of Heinz Maier-Leibnitz’ nuclear legally independent institutes, MPE’s official name was 9 “Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics at the Max Planck All the following refers to West Germany only, research reactor (nicknamed Atomei (atomic egg)) for its Institute for Physics and Astrophysics’’ (IEP at MPIPA). although the word “West’’ is sometimes omitted. For a planned plasma fusion lab, the later Institute for Plasma But the handy abbreviation MPE was used from early short account of space research in East Germany Physics. See: S. Boenke, Entstehung und Entwicklung on. For briefness, MPE is used here also for the institute (GDR), see: H. Zimmer, Weltraumpolitik der Deutschen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Plasmaphysik, 1955-1971, before 1991. Demokratischen Republik, in: K. Kaiser, S.F. v. Welck 155F. (eds.): Weltraum und internationale Politik, 377-392. 23 2 Proceedings of the Senate of the Max Planck Society, These features basically still prevail, albeit with modifi- 10 cations. For a comprehensive chronicle of the post-war e.g. S. Boenke, Entstehung und Entwicklung des Max- 35, p. 49. Gentner was especially interested in the MPG see: E. Henning & M. Kazemi, Chronik der Max- Planck-Instituts für Plasmaphysik, 1955-1971, 44f ; H. nuclear reactions induced by hadronic cosmic ray parti- Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften Trischler, Luft- und Raumfahrt-forschung in cles in meteorites. Later he called this the “starting point 1948-1998, (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1998). Also Deutschland 1900-1970, 286ff and references therein. for our participation in space research’’ (Gentner to Bartels May 3, 1962, Archives of the Max Planck see: B. vom Brocke & H. Laitko (eds), Die Kaiser- 11 Wilhelm-/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft und ihre Institute: D. DeVorkin, Science With A Vengeance, 47. On the Society, Berlin-Dahlem). history of the V2 missile, see: M. Neufeld, The Rocket Studien zu ihrer Geschichte: Das Harnack-Prinzip, 24 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1996). and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the The distinction between “working group” Ballistic Missile Era, (New York: The Free Press, 1995). (Arbeitsgruppe, i.e. the inter-institutional board consist-

3 ing of Bartels, Biermann, Dieminger and Gentner) and After Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930), the founder and 12 first president of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft. See G. Gambke, R. Kerscher, W. Kertz, Denkschrift zur “research group” (Forschungsgruppe, i.e. the team of e. g. R. Vierhaus, Bemerkung zum sogenannten Lage der Weltraum-forschung, verfasst im Auftrag der scientists and technicians to be engaged in extraterrestri- Harnack-Prinzip. Mythos und Realität, in: B. vom Deutschen Forschungsge-meinschaft, (Wiesbaden: al research) is only made for the sake of clarity here. The Brocke & H. Laitko, Die Kaiser-Wilhelm-/Max-Planck- Franz Steiner Verlag, 1961: 11). early documents do not use a univocal term for the team Gesellschaft und ihre Institute, 129-138. of researchers before there actually existed one in late 13 On Heisenberg as scientific advisor in the early Federal 1961.

4 Republic, see: C. Carson, “New Models for Science in This topic has already been covered by quite a few stud- 25 ies, notably those published in the ESA History Study Politics: Heisenberg in West Germany,” Historical On Simpson and van Allen in the early days of US Reports series (see http://esapub.es rin.esa.it/publicat Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 30:1 space science, see: A. Needell, “Preparing for the Space /hsr.htm for a complete list of the ESA History Study (1999); Also see: M. Eckert, “Primacy Doomed To Age: University-Based Research, 1947-1957,” Reports). An overview from a German perspective is Failure: Heisenberg’s Role as a Scientific Advisor for the Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological provided e.g. in: H. Trischler, Luft- und Raumfahrt- Nuclear Policy in the FRG,” Historical Studies in the Sciences 18:1, 89-109 (1987). forschung in Deutschland 1900-1970, (Frankfurt am Physical and Biological Sciences 21:1, 29-58 (1990). 26 As a scientific member of a Max Planck Institute he Main : Campus, 1992: 285-472). This book deals with 14 air and space research in Germany before 1970 and is H. Trischler, Luft- und Raumfah-rtforschung in was entitled to the privileges of an associate professor part of a whole series of studies on the history of big Deutschland 1900-1970, 402. (Extraordinarius) of a German university: lifetime employment with full salary after retirement German science institutes. On the other hand, historical 15 studies of specific Max Planck Institutes are less fre- W. McDougall, ...The Heavens and the Earth, 206-208. (Emeritierung). For further details and references on the motivation and quent. The collection edited by vom Brocke & Laitko 27 (1996), for instance, comprises a series of papers on sev- impact of the American offers, see: J. Krige, L. Sebesta, Heisenberg and Biermann to Lüst, July 17, 1959 eral KWG institutes, but not on Max Planck Institutes US-European Co-operation in Space in the Decade After (Werner Heisenberg Archives). Sputnik, in: G. Gemelli (ed.), Big Culture: Intellectual after the war. A notable exception is a monograph on the 28 early history of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Cooperation in Large-Scale Cultural and Technical Heisenberg and Biermann to Hahn, September 12, Physics (IPP): S. Boenke, Entstehung und Entwicklung Systems, (Bologna: Editrice CLUEB, 1994: 263-285). 1959 (Werner Heisenberg Archives). des Max-Planck-Instituts für Plasmaphysik, 1955-1971, 16 29 (Frank-furt am Main: Campus, 1991). This has been con- Dieminger to Heisenberg August 6, 1960 (Werner See e.g. J. Krige, The Prehistory of ESRO, 1959/60, tinued in: I. von Stumm, “Kernfusionsforschung, politis- Heisenberg Archives, Munich). From the First Initiatives to the Formation of the COP- ERS, (Noordwijk: ESA HSR-1, 1992: 8-9); P. Fischer, che Steuerung und internationale Kooper-ation: das 17 Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik (IPP) 1969- After Regener’s death in 1955, his Institute for The Origins of the Federal Republic of Germany’s Space 1981,” (Ph. D. Thesis, München, LMU, 1999). Stratospheric Physics was moved from Weissenau to Policy 1959-1965 -- European and National Lindau, where it joined Dieminger’s Institute for Dimensions, (Noordwijk: ESA HSR-12, 1994: 6ff) and 5 For a recent account of the scientific prehistory of both Ionospheric Research. This double institute was renamed references therein. the MPI for Aeronomy in 1957. Lindau is situated near Sputnik and Vanguard, see: H. Gavaghan, Something 30 New Under The Sun: Satellites and the Beginning of the Göttingen in Lower Saxony and is not to be confused R. Lüst, “My Start In Space,” in: G. Haerendel, S. Space Age, (New York: Coper-nicus/Springer, 1998). A with the bigger and better known Lindau in Bavaria. Grzedzielski, G. Cavallo, Battrick (eds.), 40 Years of COSPAR, (Noordwijk: ESA, 1998:72). Q U E S T 8 : 2 43 31 G. Gambke, R. Kerscher, W. Kertz, Denkschrift zur space and military technologies. His company (bearing the state of Lower Saxony (Archives of the Max Planck Lage der Weltraum-forschung in der Bundesrepublik his name) became the leading part of MBB Society). Lüst eventually declined the Göttingen offer in Deutschland. For further details on this DFG study (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blom) and was involved e.g. in July 1963. report, see: P. Fischer, The Origins of the Federal the Airbus plane. Today MBB is part of DaimlerChrysler Republic of Germany’s Space Policy, 11-13. Aerospace. 46 Heisenberg to Butenandt January 10, 1963 (Werner Heisenberg Archives). 32 Biermann, L. et al., “Zur Untersuchung des interplan- 38 Biermann to Heisenberg Sep 13, 1961 p. 2 (Werner etaren Mediums mit Hilfe künstlich eingebrachter Heisenberg Archives). 47 Butenandt, report to the senate of the MPG, March 1, Ionenwolken,” Zeitschrift für Astrophysik 53, 226-236 1963; Wagner to Bartels, Biermann, Dieminger, Gentner, (1961). 39 Biermann, memo titled “Vermerk über den Aufbau der Heisenberg, Köster, Mattauch and Schlüter, March 7, Extrater-restrischen Forschung...’’ dated May 19, 1962, 1963 (Archives of the Max Planck Society).” Soon after 33 For more information on earlier American and French and Lüst’s opening address for the new Institute building he became director, Lüst also accepted the offer from rocket-borne experiments with sodium vapor clouds February 15, 1965 (both at the Werner Heisenberg Paris and became COPERS’ scientific director on a part- (conducted resp. in 1955 by Edwards, Bedinger and Archives). time basis until the establishment of ESRO in May 1964. Manring and in 1959 by Blamont), see: J. Blamont, “The Beginnings of Space Experiments in Munich,” in: G. 40 Technically, the team was under the Institute for 48 Proceedings of the senate session on March 13 1960, Haerendel, B. Battrick (eds.), Topics in Plasma-, Astro- Physics and Astrophysics, since Lüst stayed on the insti- 44. & Space Physics -- a volume dedicated to Reimar Lüst, tute’s payroll until 1963. (Garching: MPE, 1983: 161-164) (1983). For the British 49 Annual Report of the Max Planck Institute for experiments (by Bates in 1958), see: H. Massey, M. 41 Heisenberg and Biermann, memo titled “Aktenvermerk Extraterrestrial Research, 1984, 21ff; G. Haerendel, Robins, History of British Space Science. Sodium is not betr. die zukünftige Entwicklung der Abteilung Lüst im “Curiosity and Chance, Pioneers in Space Physics” 2, photo-ionized by sunlight and therefore cannot trace Institut für Astrophysik,’’ dated Jan 16,1962 (Werner Journal of Geophysical Research 101, 10541-53 (1996). magnetic fields. Instead, scientists were interested in Heisenberg Archives). temperature measurements in the otherwise inaccessible altitudes of 100-200 km. 42 H. Ballreich, memo dated June 6, 1962 (Archives of the Max Planck Society). 34 J. Blamont, “The Beginnings of Space Experiments in Munich,” 162. 43 R. Lüst, “Internationale Zusammen-arbeit auf dem Gebiet der Weltraumforschung und die Beteiligung der 35 This section is based on the correspondence of Max-Planck-Gesell-schaft’’ p. 11 (Werner Heisenberg Heisenberg and Biermann with Meyer and Balke Archives) (without date, but most likely this essay was (Werner Heisenberg Archives) and of Lüst with Meyer Lüst’s report to the authors of the DFG study report (Archives of the Max Planck Society). which was completed in September 1960).

36 A. Russo, ESRO’s First Scientific Satellite Programme 44 NASA required that the scientific payloads for satel- 1961-1966, (Noordwijk: ESA HSR-2, 1992: 16-18); P. lites be first demonstrated with sounding rockets (Krige Fischer, The Origins of the Federal Republic of & Sebesta, 276). Strict environmental requirements and Germany’s Space Policy 1959-1965, 13-28. liability issues for launches from US territory also com- plicated things. 37 Ludwig Bölkow (born 1913), an aviation engineer, was a very successful enterpreneur in the sector of aviation, 45 Lüst’s correspondences with the Ministry of Culture of

Overview of the Major Institutes of the Max Planck Society (MPG) Mentioned in the Article, Their Location and Directors During the Period Covered INSTITUTE SUB-INSTITUTE LOCATION DIRECTOR

MPIPA Institute for Physics Munich Werner Heisenberg (Max Planck (also overall MPIPA Institute for director) Physics and Institute for Astrophysics (IAP) Munich Ludwig Biermann Astrophysics Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (IEP)* Garching (near Munich) Reimar Lüst

MPAe Institute for Ionospheric Research Lindau (near Göttingen) Walter Dieminger (Max Planck (also overall MPAe Institute for director) Aeronomy) Institute for Stratospheric Physics Lindau (near Göttingen) Julius Bartels

MPK (Max Planck Heidelberg Wolfgang Gentner Institute for Nuclear Physics) *More commonly referred to as the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics or MPE, the abbreviation used in this article.

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