Ludger Mintrop

Ludger Mintrop

Mintrop (r.) And colleagues from Seismos

Ludger Mintrop (born July 18, 1880 in Werden an der Ruhr (today Essen ), † January 1, 1956 in Essen) was a German surveyor and geophysicist . He is considered to be the inventor of the seismic method for the exploration of hydrocarbons and minerals (patent 1916).

Life

Mintrop was born into an important family, which also produced the painter Theodor Mintrop , on Gut Barkhoven in what is now Essen-Werden. After completing primary school at the Realgymnasium in Aachen, Mintrop first completed an internship in the mining industry and then began studying mine studies at the Bergakademie Berlin . After successfully passing the Abitur examination in Aachen, he enrolled with Karl Haußmann at the Technical University of Aachen there in 1903 . After passing the Markscheider examination on May 12, 1905 at the Oberbergamt in Dortmund, he took over the lectures for the sick Haussmann as a scheduled assistant and, on his advice, moved to Göttingen in 1907 to the famous earthquake researcher Emil Wiechert . In 1908 he followed a call to the Bochum mountain school , where, in addition to teaching, he set up the seismological station on behalf of the Westfälische Berggewerkschaftskasse from 1907 and supervised it as head. On August 9, 1910, he married the mayor's daughter Elisabeth Sartorius, who came from Essen-Rellinghausen . He completed his studies in Göttingen on February 1, 1911 with a seismic thesis.

In 1920 Mintrop discovered the appearance of the head wave in the seismic wave field, which is the basis for seismic refraction measurements. In 1917, when he was a member of the artillery examination commission, he received patents for a vibration meter, a light field seismograph and a method for determining the location of artificial vibrations. In 1920 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . On April 4, 1921, he founded SEISMOS GmbH based in Hanover. His work received sustained support from his teacher Emil Wiechert. Its digestion process led to an increase in oil production worldwide. Mintrop taught as a professor of mine science and geophysics from 1928 to 1945 at the University of Breslau and from 1946 to 1948 at the RWTH Aachen . In addition belonged Mintrop among others, Karl Erich Andrée , Gustav Angenheister , Immanuel Friedlander , Beno Gutenberg , Franz Kossmat , Gerhard Krumbach , Karl Mack , Peter Polis , August Heinrich Sieberg and Emil Wiechert of the founding members in the September 19, 1922 Leipzig founded German Seismological Society , today's German Geophysical Society.

On May 19, 1949, Mintrop was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Montanistische Hochschule Leoben for his excellent research in the field of applied geophysics . On September 9, 1955, he received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from Federal President Theodor Heuss .

Works

• Introduction to mine sheath theory . with special consideration of hard coal mining. 2nd improved edition. Springer, Berlin 1916, p. 215 .
• Observation book for mining measurements . 3. improved u. probably edition. Springer, Berlin 1916, p. 120 .
• On the history of the seismic procedure for the exploration of mountain strata and usable deposits . In: Communications from the Seismos Society . Self-published by Seismos, 1930, p. 114 .
• Geophysical methods for exploring mountain strata and deposits . In: The technical development of the German hard coal mining since the turn of the century. tape 1 (Markscheidewesen), part 1. Glückauf, Essen 1941, p. 86 .

literature

• H. Menzel: In Memoriam Ludger Mintrop. In: Deutsche Hydrographische Zeitschrift , Volume 8, Issue 4, 1955, p. 165.
• Antal Tärczy-Hornoch: The development of geophysics and its part in the exploration of the earth's interior and in the exploration of deposits . In: Werner Arnold (ed.): Eroberung der Tief . 6th edition. German publishing house for basic industry, Leipzig 1983, p. 25 (also published as a licensed edition by Prisma-Verlag: ISBN 3-570-09101-5 ).
• Evelyn Kroker :  Mintrop, Ludger. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 546 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Gerhard Keppner: Ludger Mintrop . The man who looked into the earth. Conquering the underground . 1st edition. Pro Business, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86386-248-0 ( Book-on-Demand ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilfried Schroeder, who was able to interview numerous Wiechert students and Mintrop employees, explained the friendly cooperation between Wiechert and Mintrop: Wilfried Schröder: Emil Wiechert: Physiker - Geophysiker - Wissenschaftsorganisierungs Bremen-Roennebeck: History Commission of the German Geophysical Society 2000 (reports from the Working Group on the History of Geophysics; Jg. 19, H. 1/2)

Web links

• Literature by and about Ludger Mintrop in the catalog of the German National Library
• Gerhard Keppner: Ludger Mintrop (PDF; 887 kB). In: DGG Mitteilungen , No. 1/2006, ISSN  0934-6554 , pp. 4–17.
• Gerhard Keppner: Petroleum as a fuel. Ludger Mintrop, pioneer and founder of applied seismics (PDF; 7.3 MB). In: Culture & Technology - the magazine from the Deutsches Museum , No. 1/1993. Pp. 38-45.
• Professor Dr. Dr. hc Ludger Mintrop in memory . In: Seismos-Echo , No. 2/1956.