Heinrich Greinacher
Heinrich Greinacher (born May 31, 1880 in St. Gallen , † April 17, 1974 in Bern ) was a Swiss physicist . He is considered an original experimenter and is the developer of the magnetron and the Greinacher circuit .
Greinacher was the only child of the master shoemaker Heinrich Greinacher and his wife Pauline nee Münzenmayer. He attended high school in St. Gallen and studied physics in Zurich , Geneva and Berlin . Greinacher also trained as a pianist at the Geneva Conservatory . Originally a German citizen, he was naturalized in St. Gallen in 1894. In Berlin, Greinacher attended lectures with Max Planck and received his doctorate in 1904 with Emil Warburg . His habilitation followed in 1907 at the University of Zurich .
Greinacher became adjunct professor in Zurich in 1912 . From 1924 to 1952 he was a full professor of experimental physics at the University of Bern and director of the Physics Institute (formerly the Physikalisches Cabinett ).
In 1912 Greinacher developed the magnetron and provided a basic mathematical description of this tube. In 1914 he invented the Greinacher circuit (a rectifier circuit for voltage doubling) that is still used today and is named after him. In 1920 he discovered the voltage multiplication in the cascade generator and developed detection methods for charged particles ( proportional counter tube , spark counter ). In the 1930s the Greinacher circuit was used to research atomic nuclei; British researchers discovered the artificial radioactivity .
Greinacher was married twice: from 1910 to the German Marie Mahlmann, with whom he had two children, from 1933 to Frieda Urben from Inkwil .
Foundation, endowment
The Heinrich Greinacher Foundation in Bern was established in 1988 from the estate of Frieda and Heinrich Greinacher. Interest income from the foundation's capital is used for the Heinrich Greinacher Prize and to promote young researchers.
literature
- Negotiations of the Swiss Natural Research Society . Issue 154 (1974), pp. 239-251 (with catalog raisonné)
- Hans Erich Hollmann: Physics and technology of the ultra-short waves. Volume 1. Generation of ultra-short-wave oscillations . Springer, Berlin 1936
- Heinz Balmer: Heinrich Greinacher farewell. In: Physical sheets . Vol. 30 (1974), No. 10, pp. 463-465
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Greinacher, Heinrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Gallen |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 17, 1974 |
| Place of death | Bern |