GEMA (radar)
The company for electroacoustic and mechanical apparatus mbH ( GEMA ) was an important manufacturer of military electronic systems until it was dissolved at the end of the Second World War . It developed and supplied the first sonar and radar equipment for the German Navy.
history
GEMA was founded on January 16, 1934 by befriended engineers Paul-Günther Erbslöh (1905–2002) and Hans-Karl von Willisen (1906–1966). The company's headquarters were initially at Gaußstrasse 2 in Berlin-Oberschöneweide . It was founded at the instigation of the physicist Rudolf Kühnhold , head of the communications test department of the Reichsmarine in Kiel. Erbslöh and v. Willisen already supported in 1932 with their company tonography the physicist successful in implementing his ideas for locating ships through reflection of underwater sound , today's sonar. After Kühnhold had not met with little interest from well-known electrical engineering companies with his considerations of performing a location by means of reflection of radio waves, he turned to Tonographie with this development, which then, despite the low RF transmission power that was achievable at the time , the demonstrated technical feasibility with decimeter waves . Since there was no development order from the naval command until then, Erbslöh and v. Willisen to found the new company GEMA for this new area of activity in order not to take any business risk for their economically sound company Tonographie.
On September 26, 1935, GEMA successfully demonstrated its first operational radio measuring device with 50 cm waves to the Navy High Command , thus laying the foundation for the development and production of further devices. Since the premises in Oberschöneweide were no longer sufficient, the company bought Deutsche Linolwerke AG's disused linoleum factory in Berlin-Köpenick ( Wendenschloßstraße 154–158) in September 1937 and moved its headquarters there in 1938.
During the Second World War, radar technology had become of the utmost importance. The 2004 ZDF film "Duel in the Dark" depicts the dramatic race to invent the radar and the fascinating story of the competition between the engineers Erbslöh and v. Willisen on the German side and the Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt on the British side. The radar devices “ Seetakt ”, “ Freya ” and “ Mammut ” developed by GEMA became legendary . GEMA's “ Wassermann ” device consisted of an interconnection of four Freya devices which could detect aircraft at a distance of 190 km at an altitude of six kilometers.
GEMA, which still had a workforce of almost six thousand in 1945, was expropriated and dissolved by the occupying powers after the war. The factory buildings then served the VEB Funkwerk Köpenick as a production facility.
Products
The most famous GEMA developments include:
Important employees
- Theodor Schultes , head of the high-frequency laboratory
- Walter Brandt , head of the low-frequency laboratory
- Hans Erich Hollmann
- Heinz von Foerster
See also
literature
- Harry von Kroge: GEMA-Berlin. Birthplace of German active waterborne sound and radio location technology. Self-published, 1998, ISBN 3-00-002865-X .
Individual evidence
- ^ Andreas Erbslöh: Family Association Julius Erbslöh. A journey through time. Hannover 2014, ISBN 978-3-925658-22-8 , p. 128