Erich Schumann (scientist)

Karl Erich Schumann (born January 5, 1898 in Potsdam , † April 25, 1985 in Homberg - Hülsa ) was a German physicist , acoustician , musicologist and science organizer during National Socialism .

Life

The son of a head of the law firm left school with “Reife für Prima” in order to take part in the First World War as a volunteer. After the end of the war he graduated from high school in 1919 and studied mathematics, physics, musicology and psychology in Berlin. In 1922 he received his doctorate in systematic musicology under Carl Stumpf with the dissertation on the dependency relationships between objective and subjective tone intensity . In 1929 he completed his habilitation in musicology on the subject of the physics of timbres . In this he proved that musical instruments have fixed formant ranges and that their structures change depending on dynamics and pitch. In the same year he received a personal professorship for physics and systematic musicology at the University of Berlin . Schumann came before the seizure of power by the Nazi Party at (honorary title, "Old Party member"). In 1932 he was already head of the NSDAP's Defense Policy Office .

From 1934 to 1944 Schumann headed the research department of the Army Weapons Office (HWA). In this function, he founded the Atomic Physics Unit at the HWA on June 15, 1939, and entrusted Dr. Kurt Diebner . He was also responsible for the maintenance of all army music in the OKW. At the same time, the Institute for Physics II and Theoretical Physics II were set up for him at the University of Berlin, which dealt with explosives physics. In this function, Schumann called for an even greater influence of military agencies and interests on universities and research institutions. From 1934 he also headed the research department W II in the Reich Ministry of Education . Schumann was the authorized representative for explosives physics of the Reichsforschungsrat (RFR) founded on his suggestion and as such a member of a working group for biological warfare. In the RFR he was a deputy to General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and a member of the Presidential Council.

According to Eduard Wildhagen , deputy chairman of the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the 1930s , it was Erich Schumann and his colleague, the military chemist and " old fighter " Rudolf Mentzel , who staged "the great swindle of miracle weapons" and thus the Extended the war. Schumann is also regarded as a "key figure in the interconnection of universities and scientific institutions with military offices from the mid-1920s until the end of the Second World War".

After the end of National Socialism in 1945, Schumann hoped in vain for a job at a university because he was under considerable strain. He was exposed to public criticism. The German Physical Society and its chairman Max von Laue initially prevented his acceptance into the university public service. Moved to Hamburg, he became head of the Helmholtz Institute for Sound Psychology and Medical Acoustics from 1949 to 1963 .

Musical activities

Schumann emerged as a composer of military music . According to Christoph Reuter , the rules of instrumentation can be traced back to Schumann's laws of formant . In particular, his marches Panzerschiff Deutschland (1937) and Der Eiserne (1936) were played frequently during the Nazi era as well as in West Germany in the post-war period (the latter, however, under the name of Kameradengruß ). In 1957 he submitted an opinion on military music to the “Music Department” in the Federal Ministry of Defense , in which he called for an expansion of the available timbres.

Fonts

• Acoustics. Shepherd, Breslau 1925.
• Physics of timbres. Habilitation thesis. University of Berlin, 1929.
• Physics of timbres. Volume II, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1940 (unpublished, only proof available).
• with G. Hinrichs: Increase in the performance of hollow explosive devices through special ignition guidance (lenses). Report of the Reich Research Council , 1943/44.

literature

• Michael Grüttner : Biographical lexicon on National Socialist science policy. Heidelberg 2004, p. 157.
• Manfred Franz Heidler: Music in the Bundeswehr. Musical proof between task and artistic claim. The Blue Owl, Essen 2005, ISBN 3-89924-123-1 .
• Rainer Karlsch : Hitler's bomb. DVA, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-421-05809-1 .
• Ders./ Heiko Petermann (ed.): Pros and cons of Hitler's bomb. Waxmann, Münster / New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-8309-1893-6 .
• PH Mertens: Schumann's Laws of Sound Color. Bochinsky, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-920112-54-7 .
• Günter Nagel: "The Allies' secret German uranium project booty" Jung, Zella-Mehlis 2016, ISBN 978-3-943552-10-2
• Ders .: Nuclear tests in Germany. Jung, Zella-Mehlis 2002, ISBN 3-930588-59-5 .
• Ders .: Science for War. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-515-10173-8 .
• Gerhard Rammer: " Cleanliness among colleagues". The politics of the past of the German Physical Society. In: Dieter Hoffmann , Mark Walker (Ed.): Physicists between autonomy and adaptation. Weinheim 2007, pp. 359-420.

Web links

• Christoph Reuter: How and why in the history of sound color research has mostly been researched past the sound. ( Memento of April 11, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 328 kB)
• Schumann dossier and documents, portrait of Schumann, patent documents ( Memento from December 12, 2006 in the web archive archive.today )
• An armory? Nuclear weapons and reactor research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (PDF file)

credentials

1. ↑ All information according to: Günter Nagel: Explosives and fusion research at the Berlin University. Erich Schumann and the II. Physics Institute. In: Rainer Karlsch , Heiko Petermann: Pros and Cons "Hitler's bomb". Studies on atomic research in Germany. Münster 2007, pp. 229-260.
2. ↑ Lothar Mertens : “Only politically worthy people”. DFG research funding in the Third Reich 1933–1937. 2004, p. 30.
3. ^ Helmut Maier: Research as a weapon. Armaments research in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Metal Research 1900–1945 / 48. Göttingen 2007, p. 822.
4. ↑ Lothar Mertens: “Only politically worthy people”. DFG research funding in the Third Reich 1933–1937. 2004, p. 30.
5. ^ Anne C. Nagel: Hitler's educational reformer: The Reich Ministry for Science, Education and National Education 1934-1945. Frankfurt am Main 2012.
6. ^ Helmut Maier: Chemists in the "Third Reich": The German Chemical Society and the Association of German Chemists in the Nazi regime. Weinheim 2015, p. 144.
7. ↑ This and the previous information: Helmut Maier: Research as a weapon. Armaments research in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Metal Research 1900–1945 / 48. Göttingen 2007, pp. 1.034, 1.040, 1.042.
8. ↑ Lothar Mertens: “Only politically worthy people”. DFG research funding in the Third Reich 1933–1937. 2004, p. 30.
9. ↑ Frank Reichherzer: Demilitarization, Bellification and Hybridization in the Sign of the "Total War". On the trail of war in German trade journalism in the interwar period. In: Markus Pöhlmann (Hrsg.): German military journals in the 20th century. Potsdam 2012, pp. 37–48, here p. 47.
10. ^ Gerhard Rammer: " Cleanliness among colleagues". 2007, pp. 389-409.
11. ↑ Christoph Reuter: The auditory discrimination of orchestral instruments. Peter Lang, Frankfurt 1996, pp. 293-299.
12. ^ Manfred Franz Heidler: Music in the Bundeswehr. Musical proof between task and artistic claim. The Blue Owl, Essen 2005, p. 233ff.