Ludwig Genzel

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Ludwig Genzel (born February 17, 1922 in Bad Nauheim , † January 27, 2003 in Stuttgart ) was a German physicist who dealt with solid-state physics and was a pioneer in infrared physics .

After graduating from high school in 1940, he did work and military service and studied physics in Frankfurt am Main from 1947 with his diploma in 1949. In 1951 he received his doctorate under Marianus Czerny (dissertation: Measurement of the temperature dependence of the optical constants in the ultra-red ), was an assistant in Frankfurt and completed his habilitation 1955. After he was on a scholarship at Ohio State University for a year (1959/60), he became professor of experimental physics at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg in 1960 and in 1969 he became the first director of the newly founded Max-Planck- Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. In 1990 he retired.

Genzel expanded the field of infrared spectroscopy (from near to far infrared) as the successor to Heinrich Rubens and his teacher Czerny. In the early 1960s he introduced infrared spectroscopy into the millimeter wavelength range and in 1961 developed the first Fabry-Pérot interferometer for far infrared with metal grids as a mirror and around 1960 the first rapid scan interferometer for far infrared, with which he operated Fourier spectroscopy in this wavelength range . He then developed the Michelson interferometer for far infrared with digital Fourier analysis. One of his interferometers (Genzel interferometer) found widespread use and was manufactured by Bruker Optik in Ettlingen .

At the end of the 1960s, he played a key role in the development of solid-state physics in Germany, which at the time had lagged a little internationally. With Heinz Bilz , he applied infrared spectroscopy to solids and demonstrated the importance of phonons in the optical properties of ion crystals. Genzel also studied microcrystals, biological macromolecules (proteins, DNA) and high-temperature superconductors.

In 1977 he became a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and in 1984 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Every two years the Ludwig Genzel Prize for Solid State Spectroscopy is awarded at the International Conference on Low Energy Excitations in Solids (LEES), sponsored by Bruker and endowed with 4,000 euros.

Fonts

  • Editor: Solid matter: Atoms and electrons in the solid; 14 scientists report on the current state of research, Umschau Verlag 1973

literature

  • Manuel Cardona , Reinhart Geick, Karl Renk, obituary in Physik Journal, Volume 2, 2003, No. 9, p. 62

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig Genzel. with picture. Member entry at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 25, 2016 .
  2. ^ Member entry by Ludwig Genzel at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ Genzel Prize, call for applications 2016, pdf
personal data
SURNAME Genzel, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Nauheim
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 2003
Place of death Stuttgart