Karl Bergwitz

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Karl Bergwitz (born November 7, 1875 in Wolfenbüttel , † November 14, 1958 in Braunschweig ) was a German physicist and teacher .

Life

Bergwitz came from a family of bakers who had lived in Wolfenbüttel for five generations. At the age of three he lost his father in an accident and grew up in the care of a family of merchants who were related by marriage. Bergwitz became a pupil of Julius Elster and Hans Geitel at Wolfenbütteler Gymnasium Große Schule . The two physicists became role models for him.

Bergwitz studied mathematics and natural sciences in Berlin and Göttingen and did his doctorate in Rostock . He then took on an assistant position in Darmstadt . In January 1900 Bergwitz passed the state examination for the higher teaching post and got a job at the Gandersheimer Gymnasium. In April 1904 he became a teacher appointed and transferred two years later to Brunswick.

In 1924 Bergwitz took over the management of the Braunschweiger Reformrealgymnasium . During his tenure, the school achieved an outstanding position in school sports, he obtained donations in kind and money from companies in Braunschweig for the improvement of teaching offers. In 1943 he was also appointed head of the Martino-Katharineum Braunschweig . He held this dual function until his retirement in autumn 1945.

Bergwitz was a member of the Ghibellinia Göttingen gymnastics club and an honorary member of the Alania Braunschweig. For a while he was chairman of the Association of Alter Turnerschafter.

power

Immediately after Karl Bergwitz received his transfer to Braunschweig in 1906, he initially took over lectures at the Technical University on a substitute basis. In 1909 he completed his habilitation and offered his own courses as a private lecturer. The gas electronics , atmospheric electricity , the radioactivity and the history of physics were the subject areas of his subjects. In 1914 the State Ministry appointed him associate professor. In his own research projects, he took up work by Elster and Geitel on photometry , atmospheric electricity and radioactivity. Like his role models, he constructed his own devices and measuring devices for his research work. He had two of them patented .

Bergwitz entered a remarkable area of ​​research when he began to study the earth's ionizing radiation. At the time, the question of whether and to what extent this was still available at greater heights was unclear. In 1908, Bergwitz used a free balloon ride run by the Braunschweiger Luftsportverein to measure air ionization as a function of altitude. The “strange” result that the ionization gradually decreased with increasing altitude, but then increased again, he attributed to a defect in the measuring device. Bergwitz followed the advice of an older colleague who had warned him against making a different interpretation of the measurement results scientifically impossible.

The Austrian Viktor F. Hess , with whom Bergwitz was in contact, took up the matter and in 1912 undertook seven balloon ascents. He was able to prove that ionizing rays hit the earth from space. Hess later received the Nobel Prize in Physics for this achievement . After all, Bergwitz is considered a co-discoverer of cosmic rays ( Heß-Bergwitzsche rays ).

Honors

Works

  • Physics textbook f. high. Educational institutions: Level 1 / Wilhelm Krumme. Edited according to new curricula by Karl Bergwitz and Hugo Fenkner, Grote, Berlin 1913.
  • Bergwitz (Ed.): Works from the fields of physics, mathematics, chemistry: Festschrift Julius Elster u. Hans Geitel z. 60th birthday / dedicated by friends a. Students. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1915.
  • Karl Bergwitz: Elster and Geitel's last lifetime. in: Elster and Geitel. Commemorative publication for Geitel's centenary on July 16, 1955. in: Messages from the old rulers of the Great School in Wolfenbüttel. Issue 12, 1955.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Max Mechow: Renowned CCER, Historia Academica. Volume 8/9, p. 18.
  2. ↑ Albrecht, Helmuth: Technical education between science and practice: the Technical University of Braunschweig, 1862-1914 . Olms, Hildesheim 1987, ISBN 3-487-07819-8 .
  3. ↑ Viktor F. Hess: About observations of penetrating radiation during seven free balloon trips . In: Physics. Magazine 13, 1912, p. 1084.
  4. ↑ Frank Wissmann: Cosmic radiation in the atmosphere. PTB Braunschweig. on elster-geitel.de
  5. ↑ Information from the Office of the Federal President
personal data
SURNAME Bergwitz, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bergwitz, Karl Friedrich August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist and teacher
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolfenbüttel
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1958
Place of death Braunschweig