Rudolph Kompfner

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES R U D O L P H K OMPFNER 1909—1977 A Biographical Memoir by J . R. P IERCE 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 1983 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES WASHINGTON D.C. RUDOLF KOMPFNER May 16, 1909 -December 3, 1977 BY J. R. PIERCE HE SUCCESSFUL PURSUIT of science and technology is T something of a mystery. The way of endeavor is con- spicuously marked by sterile studies and lucky flukes. Yet, I believe there are ways conducive to winning. These are il- lustrated in the work of Rudolf Kompfner. In writing about him, I hope that it will not be taken amiss if I refer to him consistently as Rudi. Few knew him as Kompfner or as Dr. Kompfner, and none as Rudolf. Rudi's success in a field that he himself chose is indubi- table; it is attested by numerous honors. In 1955 the Physical Society awarded him its Duddell Medal for his invention of the traveling-wave tube. This led him to give a lecture and later to write a book on The Invention of the Traveling-Wave Tube. He was made a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and given its David Sarnoff Award in 1960 and its highest award, the Medal of Honor, in 1973. He received the Stuart Ballantine Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1960; the John Scott Award from the City of Philadelphia in 1974; the Sylvanus Thompson Medal of the Rontgen Society, incorporated with the British Institute of Radiology, in 1974; and the National Medal of Science in 1975. He was awarded an honorary doctor of technical science by the Tech- nische Hochschule of Vienna in 1964 and the honorary de- 158 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS gree of doctor of science from Oxford University in 1969. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. He served well on important committees of these organizations. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Associated Universities, Inc. Rudi succeeded-despite very real difficulties-through hard work and a constellation of qualities so various that they might be thought inconsistent. He had a driving purpose and intense application in his chosen field. Yet this did not ex- clude a wide range of interests and enthusiasms. He loved all good things except poetry, yet he could and did live simply. Nothing daunted him, and few things seemed beyond his range. He was warm and open and quickly became what seemed like a lifelong friend. Felix Bloch regarded Rudi as a close friend, though they met only two years before Rudi's death, when neither was young. People were attracted to Rudi, and Rudi was attracted to those whom he felt worthy of his in- terest. Others, he must have ignored. I remember a lunch with Rudi and a foreign visitor. I solicited the visitor's opinions, listened intently, and commented politely. After lunch, Rudi seemed almost annoyed with me. He asked why I had bothered with such a man-he was nothing. And of course, Rudi was right. To discuss Rudi and his career and its significance is no easy matter. He lived in many places, did many things, and interacted with many people. He was born in Vienna, Austria on May 16,1909, the son of Bernhardt and Paula Kijmpfner. His father was an accountant and a composer of Viennese songs and waltzes who played the piano in a Heurigen in the outskirts of Vienna. Rudi had a book, published in 1913, that included several of his father's compositions. RUDOLF KOMPFNER 159 Rudi himself exhibited an early musical talent, picking out tunes on the keyboard and learning which notes went pleas- ingly together by trial with, apparently, little error. Piano lessons failed to teach him to read music; he memorized instantly the pieces he was told to study. Rudi seems to have learned to cope with difficulties of life as he learned music-through exposure and talent. Toward the end of World War I, through the armistice, and for some time thereafter, Viennese children starved because of a total Allied blockade. Rudi survived because he was put on a train by the Red Cross and sent-without his parents knowing exactly where he was going-to Sweden. The months there, during which he recovered from boils and other ills of mal- nutrition, were spent with a deeply religious family. Their attitudes impressed him and remained fresh in his memory, though they had little long-term influence on his own beliefs. Early reading, and particularly the works of Arago, enamored Rudi of physics. This was his lifelong love, but he was not allowed to pursue his chosen career immediately or directly. Through the influence of his uncle, Fritz Keller, an architect, he studied architecture at the Technische Hoch- schule in Vienna, becoming a Diplom-Ingenier in 1933. This was a difficult time for Jews in Austria. An English- man, Roy Franey, who had married Rudi's cousin Mowgli Jonasz, was helpful in Rudi's coming to England in 1934. Franey later succeeded in getting Rudi's parents and sister out of Austria in 1938. After Rudi had served an architectural apprenticeship with P. D. Hepworth in London from 1934 to 1936, he became managing director of Franey's firm, Almond Franey and Son, Ltd., Estate Managers and Builders, London, from 1936 to 1941. Here we have a man who had suffered starvation during a terrible war, had been shipped off to one foreign land as a child, had been compelled to pursue a career not of his own 160 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS choosing, and then had to go to another strange land and make his way as an architect. We might imagine him as dis- illusioned, bitter, slighting his own work or forever cut off from that which he valued most. Not Rudi. Indeed, I believe that he learned a good deal from architecture that was valuable in his later endeavors. One thing was an appreciation of the practical aspects of any art, includ- ing that of the builder. Another was that in order to accom- plish something, one must make a start. Rudi told of staring at a blank piece of paper on his drawing board after having been instructed to design a house. A senior draftsman came, leaned over his shoulder, and saw that he was having trouble. The draftsman drew a square on the paper and told him, "The secret of getting started is to start." Rudi had his start and proceeded with the design. Rudi became an architect of some accomplishment. Ac- cording to Rudi's recollection, during a civil service examina- tion, C. P. Snow walked in, glanced through Rudi's dossier, and said: "Mr. Kompfner, I see you are an Austrian and an architect." Rudi agreed. "Mr. Kompfner, Adolf Hitler was an Austrian and an architect. Tell me which is the better architect, you or Hitler?" "What I built still stands," Rudi replied. Indeed it does. Among his works is a house in south London, described and pictured in Small Houses, E50042500 (edited by H. Myles Wright, London: The Architectural Press, 1937). It is an admirable building for a narrow (30-foot wide), dark site. Rudi also designed a number of artisan's flats in the Bermondsey District. Rudi's experience in architecture had various influences in his life. He was acutely aware of buildings, their beauties RUDOLF KOMPFNER 161 and their failings. I remember his telling me that of two buildings neighboring St. Mark's in Venice: one is marvelous; the other, trash. He insisted that the south facade of the Parliament building in Vienna is a masterpiece-far superior to the front. He speculated that this was the work of some junior architect and had escaped attention and ruination. Of lesser note, driving past a house in Summit, New Jersey, that we both admired, he said that the second-story windows were too close to the roof, which was certainly so. Another influence of architecture was that it enhanced Rudi's natural talent for drawing. In his Viennese days, Rudi produced some striking prints in a then-current style. Later, he provided twenty-three illustrations for a book, 3 Jungen Ziehen durch Kleinasien, in Verlag Das Bergland-Buch, published in 1936 and written by Rudi's closest and lifelong Vien- nese friend, Theo Eder. Rudi's talent for illustration was a joy throughout his life; he recorded home, family, and a one-time pet raccoon. It served a different purpose in illustrating his technical thoughts clearly. At the blackboard, most of us fumble in trying to convey our ideas; Rudi was never unclear, never at a loss. He insisted that his students picture things accurately. One student told me that he continually demanded, "draw it to scale." That can make a real difference. While Rudi was practicing architecture and learning through it, he began to make his way in his chosen field of physics. How does one turn from a practicing architect to a physi- cist? Rudi's approach was phenomenally original. He went to the excellent Patent Office Library in Chancery Lane and read journals and books in the evening. Sometimes Peggy Mason accompanied him. He had met her at the Westminster swimming club in 1935; they were married at Caxton Hall, Westminster on April 29, 1939.

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