Heinz Maier-Leibnitz

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Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, 1974

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (born March 28, 1911 in Esslingen am Neckar , † December 16, 2000 in Allensbach ) was a German physicist and President of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Scientific career

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz was a son of Hermann Maier-Leibnitz . He studied physics at the Technical University of Stuttgart and at the University of Göttingen , where he received his doctorate in 1935 under James Franck , the 1925 Nobel Prize winner . Like his father, he became a member of the student association Academic Society Sonderbund Stuttgart during his studies .

He began his scientific career in experimental nuclear physics as an employee of Walther Bothe at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg , which was continued as the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research after the Second World War .

The Technical University of Munich appointed him to the chair for technical physics in 1952 as the successor to Walther Meißner . The laboratory for technical physics belonging to the chair became the nucleus of nuclear solid-state physics in Bavaria. On his initiative and under his leadership, the first German research reactor , the Munich Research Reactor (called Atomei ), was built in Garching near Munich and commissioned in 1957.

Maier-Leibnitz achieved great scientific importance with the establishment of the Franco-German neutron research center Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble , which he headed from 1967 to 1972.

In 1974 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz retired. His successor both at the chair and as head of the research reactor was Wolfgang Gläser .

Science and higher education policy

By introducing the department system in 1964, Maier-Leibnitz succeeded in restructuring the faculty , with which better research conditions were achieved. This enabled his former doctoral student, the Nobel Prize winner Rudolf Mößbauer , to return to the TH Munich from the USA.

Maier-Leibnitz became the first German to become President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics in 1972 . From 1972 to 1973 he was a member of the Science Council and, succeeding Julius Speer, he was President of the German Research Foundation from 1973 to 1979. The introduction of the Collaborative Research Center goes back to his term of office . A major concern for him was the promotion of young scientists. That is why the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize established by the DFG , which is awarded to the research results of young scientists, bears his name. From 1973 to 1974 he was chairman of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors .

Awards, honors and memberships

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz received numerous honors for his scientific and social services:

From 1979 to 1984 he was Chancellor of the Order Pour le Mérite for Science and the Arts , of which he was a member. He was also a member of numerous national and international science academies, including the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , where he - succeeding Walther Meißner - was chairman of the commission for low temperature research for many years .

The Munich II research reactor, which was commissioned in 2004 and is the successor to the first Garching research reactor built under his leadership, was named in his honor as the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source.

Personal

Maier-Leibnitz was convinced of the usefulness of atomic energy and still held his opinion after the Chernobyl disaster . He saw "an economic advantage in atomic energy" and believed that the dangers of atomic energy were "smaller ... than actually with almost all other forms of energy."

In 1957 he was one of the 18 German nuclear scientists who rejected the planned nuclear armament of the Bundeswehr in the Göttingen Declaration .

Maier-Leibnitz was a well-known amateur cook. His cookbooks, the Cookbook for Foxes and the Microwave Cookbook for Foxes , were very well received . They appeared in several editions and were quickly sold out.

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz was married to the opinion poller Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann for the second time .

His sister Magdalene Maier-Leibnitz, born in 1916, was murdered during the Nazi era on April 22, 1941 because of the diagnosis of schizophrenia in the Nazi killing center in Hadamar in Hesse.

His grave is in the Garching cemetery .

Publications (selection)

Maier-Leibnitz published a large number of scientific articles and other publications. His books on science policy from the last decades of his life include

Cookbooks:

  • Cookbook for foxes. Large kitchen - quick and hospitable . Munich 1980, ISBN 3-492-02468-8
  • Microwave cooking course for foxes (together with Traude Cless-Bernert). Munich 1999, ISBN 3-492-112870

literature

  • Anne-Lydia Edinghaus: Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, half a century of experimental physics . Munich 1986, ISBN 3-492-03028-9
  • Rudolf Mößbauer : Obituary for Heinz Maier-Leibnitz . In: Yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences 2001, pp. 309–312
  • Paul Kienle : How do you come up with something simple new? The researcher, teacher, science politician and hobby cook Heinz Maier-Leibnitz . Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7201-5232-4
  • Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann: Nobody has the right to waste their talent. Heinz Maier-Leibnitz. A portrait in quotes . Osnabrück 2001, ISBN 3-7201-5280-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Black Ring. Membership directory. Darmstadt 1930, p. 49.
  2. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 85, May 8, 1973.
  3. ↑ Andrea Westhoff: A pioneer of atomic research. In: Calendar sheet (broadcast on DLF ). March 28, 2011, accessed March 28, 2011 .
  4. ^ The Göttingen Declaration 1957 at uni-goettingen.de
  5. ↑ Claudia Bitzer: She was one of us . In: Esslinger Zeitung, April 20, 2011 Eßlinger Zeitung Online
  6. ↑ Claudia Bitzer: She was one of many . In: Esslinger Zeitung, April 20, 2011, accessed on April 22, 2011. Eßlinger Zeitung Online
  7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ev-kirche-esslingen.de
  8. ↑ Gerd Otto-Rieke: Graves in Bavaria . Munich 2000. p. 34.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Maier-Leibnitz, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist, university professor, President of the German Research Foundation
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Esslingen am Neckar
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 2000
Place of death Allensbach