Karl-Heinz Althoff

Karl-Heinz Althoff, 2016

Karl-Heinz Althoff (born December 10, 1925 ) is a German physicist and emeritus university professor at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn .

Life

Karl-Heinz Althoff studied physics at the Georg-August University in Göttingen with Hans Kopfermann, among others . In 1953 he followed Kopfermann to Heidelberg to complete his dissertation there. Shortly after graduation, his doctoral supervisor told him that he would “start in Bonn” in three weeks. When asked what his job would be there, the professor told him he should build an accelerator there.

In 1954 Althoff went to Bonn to Wolfgang Paul , who made him head of the magnet construction of the planned synchrotron . From October 1958 to February 1960 Althoff worked at the California Institute of Technology at the local 1 GeV electron synchrotron in meson physics. He worked significantly under Wolfgang Paul on the development of the 500 MeV electron synchrotron. In 1964 he completed his habilitation and in 1965 he became a full professor for experimental physics and director at the Physics Institute of the University of Bonn.

In 1984 the synchrotron was decommissioned. It had to be dismantled to make room for the electron stretcher system (ELSA). Althoff offered it to the Deutsches Museum Bonn , where it is largely part of the permanent exhibition today.

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  In the Deutsches Museum Bonn flared part of the synchrotron

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  Karl-Heinz Althoff in front of the synchrotron he helped build in the Deutsches Museum Bonn

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  The "Althoff Line" named after Karl-Heinz Althoff

Others

Althoff is one of the founders of the Foundation for Physics and Astronomy in Bonn, whose purpose is to promote science and research in the subject of physics / astronomy at the University of Bonn.

Fonts (selection)

• From 500 MeV to 2500 MeV. Development of high energy physics in Bonn. In: Leo Brandt (Ed. On behalf of the Minister-President Heinz Kühn ): Issue 175 of the Working Group for Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia , Springer, Wiesbaden 1967, ISBN 978-3-663-00868-2 , pp. 7-20.

Web links

Commons : Karl-Heinz Althoff  - Collection of images

• Business card of the physics institute

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ralph Burmester: The four lives of a machine. The 500 MeV electron synchrotron at the University of Bonn. Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0595-3 , p. 67 ff.
2. ↑ Burmester, p. 149.
3. ↑ Peter Frieß , Peter M. Steiner (Ed.): Research and Technology in Germany after 1945. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-422-06159-2 , p. 268.
4. ^ Foundation website. ( Memento of the original from July 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 2, 2016.