Robert Döpel

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Robert Döpel, Stuttgart 1935

Robert Döpel (born December 3, 1895 in Neustadt an der Orla ; † December 2, 1982 in Ilmenau ) was a German physicist and had professorships in Leipzig (radiation physics, 1938–1945), Voronezh (experimental physics, 1952–1957) and Ilmenau ( Applied Physics, 1957–1962). He became particularly well-known through the nuclear energy research carried out together with the theorist and Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg during World War II . His model of global warming as a result of industrial energy generation and the associated growth limits are of perspective.

Live and act

The time up to the Second World War

As the son of the master tanner and manufacturer Gustav Robert Döpel and his wife Karoline Therese, b. Peterlein, (Georg) Robert Döpel was born in 1895 in the small town of Neustadt an der Orla . After graduating from high school in Weißenfels , he took part in the First World War and was seriously wounded in 1918. From 1919 he studied physics as well as mathematics, chemistry and philosophy in Leipzig , Jena (1920/21) and Munich , where he received his doctorate in 1924 under Wilhelm Wien (Physics Nobel Prize 1911) with a thesis on canal rays .

In 1924/25 Döpel was assistant to Robert Wichert Pohl in Göttingen . He then worked in a private laboratory in Planegg and also continued his philosophy studies in Munich. In 1929 he moved to Würzburg , where he completed his habilitation in 1932 with a thesis on atomic physics. In 1934 he married the lawyer Klara Mannß, who had to give up her legal practice in Munich after the seizure of power in 1933 and now devoted herself to physical studies in Würzburg. She then took part in her husband's work, and in 1937 the first of 11 joint publications appeared. Döpel was a supporting member of the SS and in the NSV .

In Leipzig

In 1938 Döpel accepted a call to Leipzig as an associate professor for radiation physics . His wife moved there and worked free of charge as his technical assistant in the physics institute, where they lived on the top floor. Together with and on the basis of theoretical approaches by Werner Heisenberg , who headed the Institute for Theoretical Physics , they achieved a net neutron increase in their uranium-heavy water arrangement ( "uranium machine" ) in the spring of 1942 for the first time. In the USA, Enrico Fermi succeeded in doing the same at the end of July . He had a “unique dual talent for theoretical and experimental work” and, with his nuclear reactor team, soon overtook the Leipzig team of theoretical and experimental physicists.

In the Physics Institute in Leipzig, the test reactor had become unusable at the end of June in connection with a violent deflagration followed by a long fire. This was the first in a long line of accidents in nuclear facilities associated with the development of hydrogen with inadequate safety precautions . - Werner Heisenberg soon took over the management of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin. Contrary to his wishes and original plans, the Döpels refused to follow him there, and they withdrew from the uranium project .

In April 1945 Döpel's wife Klara was buried in the Physics Institute in a bomb attack on Leipzig a few days before the American invasion. With the support of Russian helpers, her husband was only able to rescue her dead after returning from visiting his parents. Robert Döpel knew how to avoid being taken along in the specialist transport by the American army, which withdrew in June. In July 1945 the Soviets took him to the vicinity of Moscow in a similar transport .

From 1945: In the Soviet Union and Ilmenau

He was initially supposed to work in a research institute on the Soviet nuclear weapons project, but was apparently so psychologically destabilized by the death of his wife that he could hardly work. He probably left the weapons projects as early as 1948. He then worked in a mechanical factory and in 1952 was given a regular professorship in experimental physics at the University of Voronezh . In 1954 he married the Ukrainian Sinaida Fedorovna Trunovna, whose husband had died in World War II. Together they went to Ilmenau in 1957, where Döpel took up a professorship at the then University of Electrical Engineering (today TU Ilmenau ) and in 1958 was given his own institute for applied physics .

As in Voronezh , promises about nuclear energy teaching and research opportunities were not kept. So he turned back to gas discharge physics, which he had already worked on successfully before and alongside nuclear physics. Even after his retirement in 1962, he continued this work with a self-paid laboratory assistant and the supervision of several doctoral students.

In addition, with model calculations on global warming due to anthropogenic waste heat and the resulting growth limits in energy production, he turned to pressing human issues as early as 1973. This happened almost at the same time as the Club of Rome , whereby the 1st and 2nd reports on the limits to growth from 1972 and 1974 stated that the climate was influenced by both industrial energy production and the anthropogenic greenhouse effect . The latter dominates the current discussion, which mainly extends to times up to the year 2100, while anthropogenic waste heat can only have an impact in the coming centuries.

Döpel's work on global warming in the coming centuries is not only another early example of scientifically sound growth criticism and the suppression of such requests. It also deserves to be updated and taken into account in discussions about sustainability for many generations as well as the possibilities and limits the use of renewable energies .

Robert Döpel died in Ilmenau in 1982 on the day before his 87th birthday. Until recently, he had corresponded with friends and colleagues on scientific questions and in August of this year thanked him for a correcting publication on his nuclear energy research. While he was not allowed to accept invitations to lectures in West Germany until his retirement in 1962 and was later unable to travel because of his vision problems, his former colleagues Werner Heisenberg and Wilhelm Hanle visited him in Ilmenau from there . The discoverer of the “ Hanle Effect ” was awarded an honorary doctorate by the mathematics and natural science faculty of the TH Ilmenau in 1990 in recognition of his research and in view of the decades of friendship with Robert Döpel . His 100th birthday was honored with commemorative events in Leipzig and - also with the participation of authors from the anthology dedicated to him - in Ilmenau.

Publications

Around 60 original works and lectures (mostly by Robert Döpel alone or together with his wife Klara) as well as numerous reports and appreciations are recorded in an extensive bibliography.

Books

  • Electromagnetic analysis of canal rays. JA Barth, Leipzig 1925
  • Channel beam tubes as ion sources. Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1958

literature

  • Heinrich Arnold: Robert Döpel and his model of global warming. An early warning - and the update. Universitätsverlag Ilmenau 2009, ISBN 978-3-939473-50-3 . 2nd edition: (2010) . 4th Edition: Robert Döpel and his Model of Global Warming. Universitätsverlag Ilmenau 2013, ISBN 978-3-86360-063-1 (print). Online .
  • Heinrich Arnold, Global Warming by Anthropogenic Heat, a Main Problem of Fusion Techniques . [1] 2016-07-13 (Digital Library Thuringia)
  • Heinrich Arnold: On an autobiographical letter from Robert Döpel to Fritz Straßmann . Online .
  • Wilhelm Hanle : Robert Döpel 75 years. In: Physical sheets . Vol. 26 (1970), p. 573.
  • Wilhelm Hanle : Obituary for Robert Döpel. In: Physical sheets . 39: 104 (1983).
  • Wilhelm Hanle : Memoirs. I. Physics Institute, Justus Liebig University, 1989.
  • Wilhelm Hanle : Long-term friendship with Robert Döpel. In: Christian Kleint, Gerald Wiemers (ed.): Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig 1927-1942. In: Treatises d. Saxon. Akad. D. Sciences in Leipzig. 58 (1993 H. 2) pp. 74-81.
  • Lothar Hiersemann (Ed.): Contributions to the history of technology and technical education. Episode 13, publ. D. Hochsch. f. Technology, economy u. Culture (FH), Leipzig 1995, ISSN  0943-0911 . Published on the 100th birthday of Robert Döpel, to whom the entire volume with 8 articles by 6 authors is dedicated. Some of these contributions are listed in the individual evidence. The introductory article in particular is fundamental to Section 1.
  • Reinhard Steffler: The first fire service on a uranium machine. A research report with initial results. Elbe-Dnjepr-Verlag, Leipzig-Mockrehna 2010, ISBN 978-3-940541-23-9 .
  • Reinhard Steffler: Reactor accidents and the actions of the fire brigade: Leipzig, Chernobyl and Fukushima - an initial analysis. Elbe-Dnjepr-Verlag, Leipzig-Mockrehna 2011. ISBN 3-940541-33-8 .
  • Short biography for:  Döpel, Robert . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Robert Döpel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ A b Christian Kleint: Life and work of Robert Döpel. In: Hiersemann 1995, pp. 3-12.
  2. ^ Käthe Mitzenheim, Memories of Klara-Renate Döpel. In: Chr. Kleint and G. Wiemers (eds.), Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig 1927-1942. Wiley-VCH Weinheim 1993, ISBN 3-05-501585-1 and: Abhandlungen d. Saxon. Akad. D. Sciences zu Leipzig 58 (1993 no. 2) pp. 82-84.
  3. ^ A b Christian Kleint: Bibliography of the scientific work of Robert Döpel. In: Hiersemann 1995, pp. 154-165.
  4. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , pp. 70-71.
  5. ↑ There is no evidence of any activity as a Nazi functionary. See also the biographical references.
  6. ↑ Christian Kleint and Gerald Wiemers (eds.): Werner Heisenberg in the mirror of his Leipzig students and colleagues . Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2006, ISBN 3-86583-079-X
  7. ↑ Robert et al. Klara Döpel, Werner Heisenberg: The experimental proof of the effective neutron multiplication in a ball-layer system made of D 2 O and uranium metal. Research report 1942. With the year 1946 of the approval by the Allies provided in: Werner Heisenberg: Gesammelte Werke Vol. A II (Ed. W. Blum et al.). Springer-Verl., Berlin 1989, pp. 536-544.
  8. ^ Wilhelm Hanle and Helmut Rechenberg : 1982: Jubilee year of nuclear fission research. In: Physical sheets . 38: 365-367 (1982).
  9. ↑ Robert Döpel: Report on two accidents when handling uranium metal. (II. Ignition of uranium when opening a uranium container.) In: Christian Kleint and Gerald Wiemers (eds.), Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig 1927-1942, treatises d. Saxon. Akad. D. Sciences zu Leipzig 58 (1993, issue 2); also as a paperback, Weinheim 1993, pp. 62-67, and online: Accident report 1942 (facsimile, from doc. 2 of 10).
  10. ↑ Steffler 2010.
  11. ↑ Reimar Paul: First nuclear accident in history . In: taz online , June 8, 2012. Accessed June 8, 2012.
  12. ↑ Steffler 2011.
  13. ^ Werner Heisenberg, plan to move to the KWI for Physics. (1942), In: Hiersemann 1995 p. 152f. (2nd annex).
  14. ↑ a b c Arnold 2009–2013
  15. ^ A b Manfred Hötzel: Robert Döpel and politics. In: Hiersemann 1995, pp. 74-101.
  16. ↑ According to the diary of his theoretical-physical colleague Friedrich Hund , who was also hiding himself, the police wanted him in vain (see p. 2 in the facsimile from section 8 of the article " F. Hund "). See Diary Comment No. 111 .
  17. ↑ Andreas Heinemann-Grüder: The Soviet atomic bomb. Verlag Das Westfälische Dampfboot, Münster 1992.
  18. ↑ Dieter Lehmann: Döpel's work on atomic and nuclear physics. In: Hiersemann 1995, pp. 33-64.
  19. ↑ Ehrhard Hantzsche: Robert Döpel's work on gas discharge physics. In: Hiersemann 1995, pp. 64-73.
  20. ↑ Robert Döpel: About the geophysical barrier of industrial energy production. Scientific Journal of the TH Ilmenau , ISSN  0043-6917 , Vol. 19 (1973, H. 2), pp. 37-52, ( dbt )
  21. ↑ Donella Meadows et al. a .: The limits of growth. The 30-year update: signal to change course. Hirzel-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-7776-1384-3 .
  22. ^ Arnold 2009-2011; as a short version: Global Warming by Anthropogenic Heat Release
  23. ↑ Hanle 1983
  24. ^ Christian Kleint: Robert Döpel's letters between 1945 and 1982. In: Hiersemann 1995, pp. 102–153.
  25. ↑ Hiersemann 1995
personal data
SURNAME Döpel, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Döpel, Georg Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German experimental physicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Neustadt an der Orla
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1982
Place of death Ilmenau