Rudolf Fleischmann

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Rudolf Fleischmann (born May 1, 1903 in Erlangen ; † February 3, 2002 there ) was a German physicist .

life and work

Rudolf Fleischmann was born in Erlangen in 1903 . He was the son of an Erlangen biology professor and attended the humanistic grammar school between 1913 and 1922. At the age of 19 he began studying mathematics and physics in Munich and Erlangen, and in 1926 and 1927 he took the state examinations for higher teaching qualifications. During his studies he was involved in the youth movement-reformed association Bergfried . Instead of school service, Fleischmann began an academic career after completing his studies with a doctoral thesis at Professor Bernhard Gudden's institute . His dissertation in the field of solid state physics dealt with the photoelectric effect in semiconductors.

After receiving his doctorate in Erlangen in 1929, he accepted a two-year assistantship with Robert Wichard Pohl at the University of Göttingen . This was followed by two more years as an assistant at the Physics Institute at Heidelberg University and later at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research , where he completed his habilitation in 1938. Fleischmann had been a member of the SA since 1933 . In 1937 he joined the NSDAP , the NS teachers' association and the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) .

In 1941 he received an appointment as an associate professor at the University of Strasbourg . There he built a nuclear physics research facility. On February 11 and 12, 1944, he presented his research results here at a war conference of the Association of German Chemists. Fleischmann experienced the end of the war as a prisoner of war in the United States , where there was great interest in him as one of the leading German researchers in the field of nuclear physics.

After his return to Germany, Fleischmann was appointed full professor of physics at the University of Hamburg in 1947 . He stayed there until 1953 and was a. a. Director of the State Physical Institute. In 1953 he followed a call to Erlangen , where he was offered the now vacant chair for experimental physics. Fleischmann held this chair for 16 years until he retired in 1969. In addition to his teaching activities, he was an "External Scientific Member" of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics .

Fleischmann was an internationally recognized researcher in the field of atomic and nuclear physics. He carried out studies on the nuclear gamma radiation released by slow neutrons . Other work included the generation of polarized protons ( deuterons ) and their use in nuclear reactions. In April 1957 he spoke out with seventeen nuclear physicists in Germany against the planned equipping of the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons ( Göttinger Eighteen ).

Rudolf Fleischmann died in Erlangen at the age of 98.

literature

  • "A bomb was never thought of in Germany", a conversation with Rudolf Fleischmann, in: Michael Schaaf: Heisenberg, Hitler and the bomb. Conversations with contemporary witnesses. GNT-Verlag, Diepholz 2018. ISBN 978-3-86225-115-5 .
  • Burghard Weiss: The nuclear physicist Rudolf Fleischmann and medicine at the University of Strasbourg (1941–1944) . In: NTM Journal for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine . tape 14 , no. 2 , 2006, p. 107-118 , doi : 10.1007 / s00048-005-0230-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rudolf Fleischmann: External photoelectric effect on semiconductors. Dissertation, Universitat Erlangen, 1929. Publication: Rudolf Fleischmann: Electrical and optical behavior of semiconductors. II External photoelectric effect on semiconductors. In: Annalen der Physik 397 No. 1, 1930, pp. 73-106 ( doi : 10.1002 / andp.19303970105 )
  2. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2nd edition, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 155.
  3. ↑ Florian Schmaltz: Otto Bickenbach's human experiments with chemical warfare agents , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart (Ed.): Man, Medicin, and the State. The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century, Contributions to the History of the German Research Foundation , Volume 2, Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart 2006, p. 148.
  4. ↑ Text of the Göttingen Declaration 1957 at uni-goettingen.de
personal data
SURNAME Fleischmann, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH gain
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 2002
Place of death gain