Bruno Thuringia

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Bruno Jakob Thüring (born September 7, 1905 in Warmensteinach im Fichtelgebirge , † May 6, 1989 in Karlsruhe ) was a German physicist and astronomer . He was a supporter of Hugo Dingler's philosophical school .

Life

Handwriting of Thuringia (personal dedication from August 1971 in a ballpoint pen in an author's copy of the book Die Gravitation und die philosophischengrunds der Physik , Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1967, dedicated to the owner of the Karlsruhe company Schalltechnik Dr.-Ing. Schoeps , Karl Schoeps )

From 1924 to 1928, Bruno Thüring initially studied philosophy, later astronomy, mathematics and physics at the universities of Bamberg , Erlangen and Munich , where he received his doctorate in 1928. phil received his doctorate. From 1928 to 1933 he worked as an assistant at the Munich observatory . From 1934 to 1935 he was Heinrich Vogt's assistant at the University of Heidelberg , where he completed his habilitation in 1935. At the end of 1935 he became an observer at the Munich observatory. In Munich he worked closely with the astronomer Wilhelm Führer . From 1937 Thuringia was a lecturer in astronomy at the University of Munich.

Like his Munich work colleague Führer, Thuringia had been a committed and active National Socialist since the beginning of the Nazi era . As early as 1930 - at the age of 25 - he had joined the NSDAP . In 1933 he also became a member of the SA .

As a staunch supporter of Hugo Dingler's philosophical teaching , Thuringia was close to the German physics scientists around the two elderly Nobel Prize winners Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark , who struggled with the revolutionary developments in modern physics, in particular with that of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz , Henri Poincaré , Albert Einstein , David Hilbert and others developed the theory of relativity , which u. a. replaced the classic electrodynamics of moving bodies. In this context, a polemic that Thuringia published in a racist National Socialist journal in 1941 attracted particular attention .

In 1939, Thuringia was on the wish list of the Nazi Lecturer Association , especially that of his fellow student Wilhelm Führer, as the new director of the Hamburg observatory . The former director Richard Schorr and the objections of Walter Baades were able to prevent this.

From August 1939 to January 1941, Thuringia was drafted into the Air Force as a meteorologist. In September 1940 he was appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Vienna and at the same time director of the university observatory there. The previous head of the observatory, Kasimir Graff , who had already been given leave of absence by the National Socialists in 1938, was released. From March 1943 to 1945 Thuringia was again drafted into the Air Force.

In 1945, after the end of the Second World War , Thuringia was dismissed for political reasons. His predecessor Graff took over the management of the observatory again. Because of its political activities during the Nazi period, Thuringia was classified by the Bavarian Arbitration Chamber in 1949 as a “minor offender” and in 1950 as a “fellow traveler”. Beyond that, there were no legal objections against him.

Thuringia worked as a freelancer in Karlsruhe after 1945. He wrote u. a. a work on programming electronic computers.

Bruno Thüring died on May 6, 1989 in Karlsruhe.

The estate of Bruno Thuringia in the Philosophical Archive of the University of Konstanz is about 3.50 linear meters and contains manuscripts, correspondence, biographical documents and offprints of his own and other people's work. In addition, there are numerous letters from and to Thuringia in the archives of the Vienna University Observatory, as well as files relating to his work as the director of the observatory.

See also

Fonts (selection)

  • Albert Einstein's attempt to overthrow physics and its inner possibilities and causes. In: Research on the Jewish question. 4, 1941, pp. 134-162. Reprint: Verlag Georg Lüttke, Berlin 1941, "Sonderabdruck". Ed. Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany
  • Galileo Galilei. In: Journal for the whole of natural science. 8, 1942, pp. 1-4
  • Nikolaus Kopernikus: Pictures of a great German. New work on Copernicus research with excerpts from Copernican writings in German. Munich, Berlin 1943.
  • Fundamental system and inertial system. In: Methodos. Milan 1950, pp. 265-283.
  • Methodological and historical information on the general law of gravitation. In: W. Krampf (Ed.): Hugo Dingler - Commemorative book for the 75th birthday. Munich 1956, pp. 189-209.
  • Dr. Hugo Dingler, university professor, Munich. In: Aschaffenburg yearbook for history, regional studies and art of the Lower Maing area. 3, 1956, pp. 408-411.
  • Gravitation and the philosophical foundations of physics. Berlin 1967, ISBN 342801541X .
  • Fundamental questions of the exact natural sciences. In: Weather, Soil, People. No. 20. 1974, pp. 1274-1289.
  • New determinations of precession according to the principle of the maximum amount of stars without measurable proper motion. In: Astronomical News. 296, No. 2. 1975, No. 2, pp. 84-94.
  • Introduction to the protophysics of the wave. Kymometry. In: Experience and Thinking. Writings to promote the relationship between philosophy and individual sciences. 52. Berlin 1978, ISBN 3428041364 .
  • Methodical cosmology - alternatives to the expansion of space and the big bang. Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-89184-014-4 .

literature

  • Michael Grüttner : Biographical Lexicon on National Socialist Science Policy , Heidelberg 2004, p. 173 f. ISBN 3-935025-68-8
  • Franz Kerschbaum, Thomas Posch and Karin Lackner: The University Observatory Vienna and Bruno Thuringia. In: Contributions to the history of astronomy. 8, 2006, pp. 185-202. ( online , PDF, 165 kB)
  • Freddy Litten: Astronomy in Bavaria 1914–1945. , Stuttgart 1992, p. 256. ISBN 3-515-06092-8 .
  • Thomas Posch, Franz Kerschbaum and Karin Lackner: Bruno Thuring's attempt to overthrow the theory of relativity. Contribution to the colloquium of the Working Group on the History of Astronomy, Development of Astrophysics, as part of the conference of the Astronomical Society in Cologne. September 26, 2005. In: G. Wolfschmidt (Hrsg.): Nuncius Hamburgensis - Contributions to the history of natural sciences. 4, 2006. ( online , PDF, 184 kB)
  • Thomas Posch, Franz Kerschbaum and Karin Lackner: Bruno Thuring's "philosophical" criticism of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, Wiener Jahrbuch für Philosophie, Vol. 38 (2006), Vienna 2007, pp. 269–291. ( online , PDF, 340 kB)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J. Schramm, Sterne über Hamburg - The history of astronomy in Hamburg, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Kultur- & Geschichtkontor , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811271-8-8

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thuringia, Bruno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thuringia, Bruno Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Warmensteinach
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1989
Place of death Karlsruhe