Alwin Walther

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Alwin Oswald Walther,
Darmstadt 1964 in his IPM

Alwin Oswald Walther (born May 6, 1898 in Reick , † January 4, 1967 in Darmstadt ) was a German mathematician , engineer and university professor . He is one of the pioneers of computer technology in Germany.

Life

Memorial sheet for Alwin Walther

Alwin Walther was born in Reick near Dresden in May 1898 . After school, Walther did his military service from 1916 to 1919. He was wounded twice and received the Iron Cross 1st Class. From 1919 to 1922 he studied mathematics and physics at the Technical University of Dresden for a higher teaching degree . In 1922 the doctorate to Dr. rer. tech. (today according to Dr.-Ing. ). From 1922 to 1928 he was assistant and senior assistant to Richard Courant at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Göttingen . There he completed his habilitation in 1924 and became a private lecturer. The year before, he was in Copenhagen for scientific purposes . From 1926 to 1927 he was a Rockefeller Fellow in Copenhagen and Stockholm. On April 1, 1928, Walther became a full professor of mathematics at the TH Darmstadt and head of the institute for practical mathematics.

Walther attached great importance to questions of the practical application of mathematics. In the early 1930s, for example, he developed the slide rule “System Darmstadt” , which was widely used in the engineering sector.

Alwin Walther was active for many years in the Association of Friends of the Technical University of Darmstadt , which was founded in 1918 . In March 1933 he became deputy secretary. In the following year until the late 1940s he was its treasurer. At the annual general meeting in 1950 he was made an honorary member of the association.

Alwin Walter made two nominations for the Physics Nobel Prize , which ended in an award. The first nomination went to Petrus Debye (1930) and the second to Enrico Fermi (1936).

Institute for Practical Mathematics

From 1939, Walther had the calculations for the German missile program carried out at the Peenemünde Army Research Center at his institute in Darmstadt . He was considered to be one of the most research-intensive and influential scientists at the TH Darmstadt who were involved in the rocket program in Peenemünde. In 1942, the IPM was classified as a " military economy ", which was associated with certain privileges.

The research facility “M” (mathematics) was founded in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp as part of the SS project “ Ahnenerbe ” in close cooperation with the Institute for Practical Mathematics at the TH Darmstadt. Walther offered to train the future head of the research facility in Darmstadt and expressed his interest in further collaboration.

Walther also headed the section for practical mathematics at the Cracow Institute for German Ostarbeit under Hans Frank . He was also in connection with the “Section Astronomical Computing” in the Kraków-Plaszow concentration camp and cooperated with the astrophysicist Kurt Walter . In the summer of 1944, the IPM requested the translation of Russian specialist literature from there (cf. Hanel 2013, p. 346).

After the air raid on Darmstadt in the night of September 11th to 12th 1944, which destroyed large parts of the city and the university, the IPM was divided into several alternative points. Over 70 people were still working in these alternative points. A few days before the Americans marched into Darmstadt at the end of March 1945, Walther had all research reports relating to the "Peenemünde" project burned. Nevertheless, other orders continued to be processed. Walther was busy processing orders from the Navy until 1947.

West side of the IPM on the 3rd floor

After the war, the DERA (Darmstadt Electronic Calculator), a room-sized electronic computer with radio tubes , was built under his direction at the Institute for Practical Mathematics (IPM) of the TH Darmstadt from 1951 .

In October 1955, the Society for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (GAMM) and the Telecommunications Society (NTG) in the Association of German Electrical Engineers (VDE) held a specialist conference on electronic computing machines and information processing at the TH Darmstadt . Walther was the local conference leader.

Chemistry of the TH with lecture hall

More than 50 domestic and foreign experts gave lectures, which were published in the Communication Technical Report (NTF) Volume 4 - 1956 together with contributions to the discussion. The main lectures were given by Goldstine , Piloty , Billing , Booth, Householder , Rutishauser and Aiken . More than 500 participants from 15 countries attended the first international event on this area. Lebedev and Basilewski reported on developments in the Soviet Union .

IBM 650, autumn 1957 at night with user Rolf Hagedorn ( CERN ), punch card unit, computer and power supply unit

At the TH Darmstadt, the IPM put the first commercial computer (an IBM 650 ), acquired with funds from the DFG , into operation on February 11, 1957 .

Lectures were held in the chemistry lecture hall on programming with exercises so that all students at the university could learn to program on the IBM 650.

Employees at the IPM included: Wilfried de Beauclair , Hermann Bottenbruch , Lothar Collatz , Ernst Dotzauer , Karl Hessenberg , Gerhard Hund , Peter Schnell , Heinz Unger and Rudolf Zurmühl .

Walther played a key role in setting up the German Computer Center (DRZ) in Rheinstrasse in Darmstadt (inauguration in 1963). In 1973, this facility became the Society for Mathematics and Data Processing (GMD) in cooperation with other facilities, and after the merger with the Fraunhofer Society in 2001, Fraunhofer SIT.

University computer center of the TU Darmstadt

Alwin Walther played a key role in founding the university computer center of the TH Darmstadt in the 1960s. The first rooms for the data center were made available in 1963 in the basement of the west wing in the old main building. After the conversion, an IBM 7040 was put into operation in autumn 1964. Although IPM and the university computer center were organizationally separated, Alwin Walther was the head of both institutions until his retirement in 1966.

Walther retired on September 30, 1966. A few months later he died after a short illness at the age of 68 in Darmstadt.

Honors (selection)

Publications (selection)

  • Introduction to the mathematical treatment of scientific questions , Springer, Berlin, 1928.
  • Concept and applications of the differential , Teubner, Leipzig, 1929.
  • With O. Koch u. K.-J. Lesemann: The radial temperature profile in the wall-stabilized mercury high pressure arc , Zeitschrift für Physik, Vol. 127, pp. 153-162 (1949).
  • Effects of the large computer systems on engineering work , Journal of the Association of German Engineers Vol. 93 (1951) No. 19/20 Page AZ 1--2.
  • Mathematical thinking and mathematical devices in their mutual influence , Mathematical-Physical Semester Reports Volume 1, Issue 3/4, pp. 169--188.
  • Mathematics - living science and practical helpers , Der Volkswirt, special issue Science and Economy, pp. 41--44.
  • Comments on the large number methodology , rationalization through large number research, Verlag Stahleisen 1952, pp. 64--66.
  • Teaching and research at the Institute for Practical Mathematics (IPM) at the Technical University of Darmstadt , Mathematical Teaching in the Federal Republic of Germany, Chapter XVIII, pp. 260--274.
  • With Johannes Dörr u. Edelgard Eller: Mathematical calculation of the temperature distribution in the glass melt with consideration of heat conduction and heat radiation , Glastechnischeberichte, Zeitschrift für Glaskunde 26 (1953) H. 5, S. 133-140.
  • With Johannes Dörr: Typical transient processes for fundamental transfer functions . Archive of electrical transmission (1953), pp. 379–386.
  • With K.-J. Lesemann: Instrumental processing of the differential equation of a spark gap , Zeitschrift für Physik, Vol. 135, pp. 658–664 (1953).
  • Problems in the interplay of mathematics and technology , Journal of the Association of German Engineers, Vol. 96 (1954), No. 5, pp. 137/149.
  • New German integration system for differential equations , Journal of the Association of German Engineers, Vol. 96 (1954), no. 22, pp. 755/58.
  • On the importance of mathematics for economics and economics, on a lecture by WG Hoffmann on the problems of American economic policy , series of publications by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Rationalisierung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Issue 17 (1955), pp. 46--52.
  • With Heinz Rutishauser u. Josef Heinhold : Contributions to the discussion at the 1955 computer conference in Darmstadt , 1956.
  • Applied mathematics - development in the recent past , Westdeutscher Verlag Köln and Opladen, 34 p., Special print from tasks of German research (1957).
  • Importance and effects of modern computing systems . Dr. Max Gehlen Verlag, 1958.
  • Modern computing systems - help and role model for the designer , VDI magazine vol. 100 (1958) No. 24, p. 1143/1157.
  • With Marianus Czerny : Tables of the fractional functions for Planck's radiation law , Berlin, Springer, 1961, ISBN 3-642-47381-4 .

Alwin Walther Medal

An Alwin Walther Medal was awarded from 1997 to 2010 for outstanding achievements as well as for exceptional research and development work in the fields of computer science or applied mathematics by the departments of computer science and mathematics at the Technical University of Darmstadt . In 2010 the Alwin Walther Medal was abolished and replaced in 2016 by the Robert Piloty Prize .

literature

  • Melanie Hanel: Normality under exceptional conditions. The TH Darmstadt under National Socialism , Darmstadt 2014.
  • Technical University of Darmstadt: Technical education in Darmstadt. The Development of the Technical University 1836–1996 , Volume 4, Darmstadt 1998.
  • Wilhelm Barth: Alwin Walther - Practical Mathematics and Computers at the THD, in: Technische Hochschule Darmstadt Jahrbuch 1978/79, Darmstadt, 1979, pp. 29–34.
  • Alwin Walther: Pioneer of Scientific Computing, Scientific Colloquium on the occasion of the hundredth birthday, May 8, 1998, Darmstadt 1999, edited by Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann.
  • Christa Wolf and Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt , Darmstadt 1977.

Web links

Commons : Alwin Walther  - Collection of Images
Commons : Institute for Practical Mathematics  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nomination Database. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  2. ^ Nomination Database. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Ingo Althöfer : Lothar Collatz between 1933 and 1950 , 3-Hirn-Verlag, Lage (Lippe) 2019, therein p. 51, quotation from a letter of November 18, 1945 from Rudolf Zurmühl to Lothar Collatz .
  4. ↑ Johannes Wosnik (Ed.): Electronic calculating machines and information processing . NTF - Volume 4, Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1956, 229 pages.
  5. ↑ Modern computing systems and their application to problems in chemistry . Lecture by Walther in Wiesbaden on March 28, 1958
  6. ↑ H. Schappert and G. Hund : Auxiliary sheets for the lecture and practical course in programming II . IPM, IBM 650, Programming, July 1958.
  7. ↑ Personnel and course catalog 1959/60 of the Technical University of Darmstadt, p. 44.
  8. ^ H. Schappert and G. Hund: Programming for the IBM 650 , IPM protocol for lecture and practical course 1959, 86 pp.
  9. ↑ G. Hund, H. Schappert and 12 others: Programming seminar , IPM protocol 1959/60, 89 pp.
  10. ↑ G. Hund: Programming for IBM 650 , IPM protocol for lecture and practical course 1960/61, 104 pp.
personal data
SURNAME Walther, Alwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walther, Alwin Oswald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician, engineer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH 4th January 1967
Place of death Darmstadt