Otto Heckmann

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Otto Hermann Leopold Heckmann (born June 23, 1901 in Opladen ; † May 13, 1983 in Regensburg ) was a German astronomer .

Life

Heckmann was born in Opladen in 1901 as the son of a notary. He studied mathematics, physics and astronomy in Bonn and after receiving his doctorate in 1925 became an assistant at the Bonn observatory . In 1927 he went to Göttingen, where he completed his habilitation in 1929. Although one of the most talented among the younger German astronomers, his scientific career stalled after 1933 because he was considered a representative of the relativity theory (“Jewish”) physics and politically as a “leftist” center man among his national socialist colleagues and the Reich Ministry of Education (REM) . Nevertheless, on November 11, 1933, he was one of the signatories of the professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist state at German universities . He also became a member of the NSDAP in order to weaken his negative political assessment by the Nazi lecturers' association . In 1935 he became an adjunct professor and in 1939 head of the Göttingen observatory . The appeal process to the Hamburg observatory dragged on for years since 1938; he could only achieve it by distancing himself from the theory of relativity in closed words. Heckmann had been the Hamburg observatory's preferred candidate since 1939 after Walter Baade had canceled. The NS-Dozentbund tried to replace Heckmann's with several astronomers who were strictly on the NS line. It was not until January 1942 that he was appointed director of the Hamburg observatory, of which he was director until 1962.

Even if he had behaved extremely opportunistically towards the Nazi system in Göttingen when he was appointed to the observatory, he did not shy away from openly defending his scientific position on the theory of relativity. On November 15, 1940, Heckmann belonged to a group of modern physicists (including Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker ) who faced the supporters of German physics on the subject of relativity theory and quantum physics. After this meeting, the supporters of German physics in Germany were isolated.

Towards the end of the war years, Heckmann successfully employed a young woman with Jewish relatives at the observatory without revealing her identity.

After the end of the National Socialist state, Heckmann justified himself for his opportunistic concessions to the NSDAP and its scientific enterprise.

In the post-war years he gained great international recognition. In 1953 he was German representative at the congress in Leiden , where the project of the European Southern Observatory was initiated and discussed. Heckmann was the driving force behind the establishment of ESO , of which he was the first General Director from 1962 to 1969. From 1952 to 1956 he was President of the Astronomical Society , from 1955 to 1961 Deputy and from 1967 to 1970 President of the International Astronomical Union . In 1961 he was awarded the James Craig Watson Medal , in 1962 with the Jules Janssen Prize and in 1964 with the Bruce Medal . 1955 to 1956 he was chairman of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors . In 1956 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1965 he was elected a full member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . Since 1967 he was a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences .

He died in a family circle on a trip to his son in Regensburg.

Heckmann's scientific interests and publications ranged from astrometry to cosmology .

The asteroid (1650) Heckmann is named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Theories of cosmology. Springer, Berlin 1942 and 1968.
  • Stars, cosmos, world models. Piper, Munich 1976.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Klaus Hentschel and Monika Renneberg: The astronomer Otto Heckmann in the Third Reich . In: VfZ , 1995, 4, pp. 581-610, here: pp. 599-605. (PDF; 7.1 MB) .
  2. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 236.
  3. ↑ Jochen Schramm: The history of astronomy in Hamburg, chapter Astronomy in the Third Reich, p274, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Kultur- & Geschichtkontor , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811271-8-8
  4. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 107.
  5. ^ Obituary by HH Voigt, Göttingen
personal data
SURNAME Heckmann, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heckmann, Otto Hermann Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Opladen
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1983
Place of death regensburg