Bruno Donath

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Friedrich Rudolph Bruno Donath (born September 15, 1870 in Steinheim , Höxter district ; † 1929 ) was a German experimental physicist and inventor, who above all earned merit as a so-called “professional popularizer” . In his writings and lectures he took up current developments in science and conveyed scientific topics to an interested lay audience.

Life

He studied at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich under Leo Graetz, among others, and received his doctorate there in 1896 with a dissertation on bolometric absorption studies . In 1899 he published the first book that dealt explicitly with the technology of X-ray machines , which had been made possible by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen's discovery four years earlier.

From 1901 Donath worked for the Berlin science society Urania , since 1905 as head of the physics department. In October 1907 he was awarded the title of professor. Much of the equipment and experimental devices he developed for Urania were manufactured by Leppin & Masche, a factory for scientific instruments. He was a member of the German Physical Society and was in close correspondence with many of his colleagues - for example with Karl Scheel , Ludwig Darmstaedter and Eilhard Wiedemann . His publications were discussed in the Physikalische Zeitschrift several times and found to be solid. In the 1910s he took part in the emerging public discussion about the consequences of the special theory of relativity and the question of the extent to which natural scientists, according to his own words, should indulge in "the boldest mathematical combinations" and "mathematical-physical speculation" . He remained connected to Urania until at least 1920 and, at the time of his death in 1929, worked as a director of the physics department for Accumulatoren-Fabrik Aktiengesellschaft (AFA), also based in Berlin .

From 1910 Donath - partly together with Arthur Partzsch - various patents were confirmed in Germany, France , Great Britain and the United States , mainly for rectifiers and discharge tubes .

Detailed list of Bruno Donath's patents (sorted by date of approval)
Patent number Surname partner Requested Authorized annotation
GermanyGermany 250685 Rail joint connection by means of welded-on parts ? December 25, 1910
GermanyGermany 27888 Firedamp indicator based on the change of a flame November 18, 1912 February 20, 1913
GermanyGermany 279028 Electric discharge tube with a glowing cathode October 11, 1913 October 03, 1914
United KingdomUnited Kingdom 20374 Improvements in electric discharging tubes September 30, 1914 August 12, 1915
GermanyGermany 295023 Electric discharge tube with a glowing cathode February 06, 1915 October 28, 1916 Addition to 279028.
GermanyGermany 295395 Electric discharge tube with glowing cathode and metal connections that reduce the cathode fall Arthur Partzsch March 21, 1915 November 21, 1916
GermanyGermany 297425 Valve tube with Wehnelt cathode and several anodes February 04, 1915 April 19, 1917
GermanyGermany 668627 Device for starting up discharge tubes with hot cathodes ? August 13, 1917
GermanyGermany 34354 Electric discharge tube with glowing cathode and metal connections that reduce the cathode fall Arthur Partzsch March 26, 1918 04/07/1919 Addition to 295395.
GermanyGermany 298431 Electric discharge tube with glowing cathode and a supply of substances which reduce the cathode fall
in the form of powders, grains, pencils or other suitable bodies 		Arthur Partzsch May 11, 1915 07/07/1919 Addition to 295395.
GermanyGermany 326311 Electric discharge tube with glowing cathode and a supply of metal compounds that reduce the cathode fall Arthur Partzsch May 27, 1917 March 20, 1920 Addition to 295395.
GermanyGermany 361211 Process for the production of vacuum-insulated vessels without support ? November 24, 1920
GermanyGermany 337581 Procedure for operating rectifiers with gas filling in intermittent operations ? 04.06.1921
United StatesUnited States 1416623 Electric discharging tube October 01, 1914 May 16, 1922
United StatesUnited States 1448996 Jacketed vacuum container 09.08.1922 March 20, 1923
United StatesUnited States 1754012 Incandescent cathode rectifier for medium voltages December 24, 1927 April 8, 1930

Publications (selection)

Monographs

  • The devices for generating X-rays and their use. Reuther & Reichard, Berlin 1899.
    • In more recent editions also: The modern X-rays. Facilities and their use.
  • Physical playbook for young people. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1902.
  • Radium (= collection of popular writings. Vol. 58). Paetel, Berlin 1904.
  • The basics of color photography (= The Science. Collection of scientific and mathematical monographs. Vol. 14). Vieweg, Braunschweig 1906.
  • with Felix Bornemann : The engine culture in Germany. Parey, Berlin 1913.

Articles in collective works

  • Mirage. In: The wonders of nature - descriptions of the most interesting natural creations and appearances in individual representations. Vol. 1. Bong, Berlin 1912, pp. 16-18.
  • X-rays. In: Ernst Teichmann et al. (Ed.): Concise dictionary of the natural sciences . Vol. 8. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1913, pp. 466–482.
  • Light generation and light output. In: Urania in Berlin (ed.): Yearbook of Urania and calendar for 1918. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1918.

Scientific articles

  • Bolometric investigations on the absorption spectrum of fluorescing substances and essential oils. Dissertation. In: Annals of Physics and Chemistry . Vol. 294, No. 8, 1896, pp. 609-662.
  • with Arthur Wehnelt : Photographic representation of current and voltage curves using the Braun tube. In: Annals of Physics and Chemistry. Vol. 305, No. 12, 1899, pp. 861-870.
  • On the theory of the Regina long-life arc lamp. In: Electrotechnical Journal . Vol. 23, 1902, p. 220 f.
  • The Urania projector for three-color photography. In: Journal for Scientific Photography, Photophysics and Photochemistry . 1st vol., 1903, pp. 94-97.
  • The three-color projection in the Urania. In: Heaven and Earth. Vol. 15, No. 7, 1903, pp. 291-296.
  • Wireless telephony. In: Heaven and Earth. 16. Vol., No. 7, 1904, pp. 143-158.
  • Radium. In: Heaven and Earth. 16th vol., No. 7, 1904, pp. 289-311.
  • The importance of radioactive substances for our modern knowledge of nature. In: German monthly for the entire life of the present. Vol. 6, 1904, pp. 358-367.
  • Annual aeronautical show 1910 . In: Heaven and Earth. 23rd vol., 1911, pp. 193-199.
  • The gyro and its technical future . In: Heaven and Earth. Vol. 23, 1911, pp. 317-332.
  • The revaluation of space and time. In: The week . Vol. 16, No. 16, 1914, pp. 639-641.
  • The X-rays in the military service . In: Centralanzeiger for sanatoriums, hospitals and sanatoriums. Issue 10, 1914, p. 566 ff.
    • Also in: Heaven and Earth. Volume 27, No. 2, 1915, pp. 41-52.
  • Assessment and measurement of signal lamps . In: Deutsche Optische Wochenschrift. 1915/1916, pp. 709-710.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Kütterer: life data of deserving personalities in the first decades of radiology. 2nd Edition. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2015, ISBN 978-3-7392-5738-9 , p. 135.
  2. ↑ a b Died. In: Physikalische Zeitschrift . Vol. 30, 1929, p. 208.
  3. ↑ a b c Beate Ceranski: The authentic radium. In: Historical Anthropology. Volume 16, No. 1: Popularization of Science . 2008, pp. 92–117, DOI: 10.7788 / ha.2008.16.1.92 , here: p. 107.
  4. ↑ Beate Ceranski: The authentic radium. In: Historical Anthropology. Vol. 16, No. 1, 2008, pp. 92–117, DOI: 10.7788 / ha.2008.16.1.92 , here: p. 108.
  5. ↑ Gerhard Kütterer: Oh, if only there was a means to make people transparent like a jellyfish! Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 978-3-833-42093-1 , p. 29.
  6. ↑ University and Staff News. In: Journal of Electrochemistry and Applied Physical Chemistry , Vol. 13, No. 43, October 25, 1907, p. 700.
  7. ^ List of members of the German Physical Society. In: Arthur König (Ed.): Negotiations of the German Physical Society in 1901. Vol. 3, 1901, p. 222.
  8. ↑ Carsten Könneker: "Catastrophic for bourgeois brains". Theory of Relativity and Volkish Propaganda in the Weimar Republic. In: Michael Hagner (ed.): Einstein on the Beach - The physicist as a phenomenon. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16515-5 .
  9. ^ J. Verch: Enlightening propaganda through popular scientific lectures. In: Telefunken newspaper. Vol. 4, No. 20, May 1920, pp. 70-74, here: p. 72 ( digitized version ).
  10. ^ Adolf Güntherschulze : Electric rectifiers and valves. 2nd Edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 1929, ISBN 978-3-662-40917-6 , p. 266 f.
personal data
SURNAME Donath, Bruno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Donath, Friedrich Rudolph Bruno (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Steinheim , Höxter district
DATE OF DEATH 1929