Heinrich Franke (physicist)

Grave of Heinrich Franke in the central cemetery in Erlangen

Heinrich Franke (born June 27, 1887 in Kiel , † January 7, 1966 in Erlangen ) was a German physicist and politician ( SPD ). He dealt with the development of automatic exposure and sensitometry and published important articles on radiology. As an SPD member, he was a member of the Bavarian state constitutional assembly in 1946, was a member of the Bavarian state parliament from 1946 to 1954 , and from 1946 a city councilor in Erlangen.

Life

Franke, the son of a professor of theology, completed secondary education at the school gate , where he graduated from high school in 1907. After physics, mathematics and chemistry studies at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg he received his doctorate in 1912 with a thesis on the natural rotation of the plane of polarization in liquid crystals Dr. phil. and then went to the Photo-Chemical Institute of the Technical University of Berlin , where he specialized in X-ray photography. From 1912 to 1913 he accompanied Max von Oppenheim on an expedition to Mesopotamia. When he returned, he lectured until the beginning of the First World War , in which he was employed as a field X-ray engineer, at the Photographic Teaching and Research Institute of the Lette Association in Berlin. After the end of the war, he worked for Siemens and Halske AG until 1921 and then became head of the X-ray laboratories at Hamburg-based CHF Müller GmbH . He remained in this position until 1934, after which he became a research assistant and head of the phototechnical departments of the research laboratory at Siemens in Siemensstadt and later at Siemens-Reiniger-Werke until 1954 . During this time he was often on trips abroad in Europe and the Soviet Union as well as North and South America. In 1950 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Medical Faculty of the University of Erlangen.

Teaching activities

In 1951 Franke was appointed honorary professor for X-ray physics by the natural science faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (LMU) and in 1952 was given a teaching position for the physical principles of X-ray photography at the medical faculty of the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen . A research department was founded especially for him in the Rieder Institute of the LMU , which was established in 1900 .

Other offices

Franke was chairman of the standards committee of the German X-ray Society , expert of the German central committee for the control of tuberculosis , scientific advisor to the telegraph construction company of Siemens & Halske and from December 18, 1952 to 1954 chairman of the Bavarian Broadcasting Council .

politics

Although Franke had already joined the SPD in 1918, he only appeared politically after the Second World War. In the election of the constituent state assembly in Bavaria, he was elected in the constituency of Upper Franconia / Middle Franconia. In the election of the first Bavarian state parliament in 1946, he was also elected from this list. In the first electoral term he was a full member of the Cultural Policy Committee, the Constitutional Committee and the Economic Committee. In the state elections in 1950 he was elected to the constituency "Erlangen-Stadt und Land". In the legislative period from 1950 to 1954 he was a member of the Committee for Bavaria-Palatinate, the Committee for Cultural Policy Affairs and the sub-committee that drafted changes to the Broadcasting Act. On November 28, 1954, Franke left the Bavarian state parliament.

From 1947 to 1950 Franke was a member of the Bavarian Constitutional Court . From 1948 to 1954 he was a member of the Bavarian Broadcasting Council, temporarily as its chairman.

Awards

Franke was honored with many awards for his services, including the Golden Medal with Oak Leaves from the Federal Transport Authority . In 1950 he received an honorary doctorate from the medical faculty of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen and in 1957 the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . In 1961 the X-ray badge of the city of Remscheid followed and in 1962 the honorary citizenship of the city of Erlangen.

In Erlangen, Heinrich-Franke-Weg in the Röthelheimpark district is also named after him.

Web link

• Heinrich Franke in the parliamentary database at the House of Bavarian History

Individual evidence

1. ^ Winner of the X-ray plaque 1961: Prof. Dr. Heinrich Franke (1887-1966) Erlangen, Germany, physicist. , German X-ray Museum, Remscheid.
2. ↑ ^{a b} cf. Biography at the House of Bavarian History