Hans Zickendraht

Hans Zickendraht

Hans Heinrich Zickendraht (born December 28, 1881 in Basel ; † June 3, 1956 there ) was a Swiss physicist and radio pioneer.

academic career

Hans Zickendraht in 1905 at the University of Basel in Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff with a thesis in the field of aerodynamics doctorate . From 1915 to 1951 he was a professor of physics in Basel.

Zickendraht radio receiver (1914)

Transmitter system, Nadelberg 11a

In 1913 he and Henri Veillon set up a transmitter at Nadelberg 11a in Basel . A radio antenna about 100 meters long was stretched to the tower of the nearby St. Peter's Church . Two years later, during the First World War , the military authorities granted permission to send attempts from the Bernoullianum , which was then the physical institute of the University of Basel. In 1917 the Basler incandescent lamp factory manufactured electron tubes according to Zickendraht's specifications. Four years later, a transmitter at the new St. Jakob arsenal broadcast signals that could be received in Neuchâtel . As an exchange professor, he went to King's College London in 1927 , was Vice President in 1918/19 and President of the Natural Research Society in Basel in 1919/1920 .

Public broadcasting

In 1923, the Bernoullianum hosted the first Swiss radio broadcast to demonstrate radio reception to visitors to the Basel sample fair .

Zickendraht was one of the main initiators of the establishment of the Basel Radio Cooperative, which took place on February 3, 1926. Their goal was to set up a local public broadcast service in Basel. Wilhelm Meile , director of the Mustermesse, was elected the first president of the cooperative, and Hans Zickendraht was elected its first vice-president. The cooperative, meanwhile Radio- und Fernsehgenossenschaft Basel (RFB), continues to own the radio studio of SRG SSR idée suisse in the Bruderholz district , where the DRS 2 program is now produced.

Works

• About the speed of air blasts in narrow tubes. Dissertation, Basel 1905 (reprint: Kessinger Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-160-03726-6 ; Nabu Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-146-54037-7 ).
• Via a universal radio-telegraphic reception arrangement. In: Negotiations of the Swiss Natural Research Society, 1914, 120–121. Detailed description and illustrations in: Negotiations of the Natural Research Society in Basel, 1914, 150–167.
• Radio in Switzerland: With a generally understandable introduction to radio technology. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1925 (first edition 1924).
• The experimental radio station of the University of Basel (Switzerland). In: Gedenkboek NVVR 1916 maart 1926. Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Radiotelegrafie, 1926.

literature

• Ernst Baldinger: Hans Zickendraht-Deriaz, 1881–1956. In: Negotiations of the Natural Research Society in Basel, 1956, 595–599.

Web links

Commons : Hans Zickendraht  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Samuel Studer: Zickendraht, Hans. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Literature by and about Hans Zickendraht in the catalog of the German National Library
• Beginnings of the Basler Rundfunk and the Studio Basel
• Hans Zickendraht's estate in the Basel University Library