Rudolf Kippenhahn
Rudolf Kippenhahn (born May 24, 1926 in Bärringen , Czechoslovakia ) is a German astrophysicist and science author.
Life
Rudolf Kippenhahn fell ill with polio at the age of two and has been disabled ever since. After graduating from high school in 1945, he studied physics and mathematics in Erlangen ; In 1951 he received his doctorate there in mathematics with Wilhelm Specht (The stock of values in a matrix). Already during his school days he was interested in astronomy and completed holiday internships in the observatory in Sonneberg under Cuno Hoffmeister . At that time there were no astronomy lectures in Erlangen, so he self-taught in this field. From 1951 to 1957, his first job was as an assistant at the Karl Remeis observatory in Bamberg , which was then the smallest observatory in Germany. In 1958 he completed his habilitation in Erlangen (investigations on rotating stars) and went to the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen and after its move to Munich in 1958, in 1963 he became a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics under its founding director Ludwig Beer man . From 1965 to 1975 he was professor of astronomy and astrophysics in Göttingen and at the university observatory there, from 1975 to 1991, as successor to Biermann, he was director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Munich, which under his direction in 1979 Garching near Munich moved. Since 1991 he has been working as a freelance writer in Göttingen. He has published numerous successful popular science books on astronomy and other subjects such as cryptology and atomic physics , and a book on astronomy for children.
Kippenhahn, who initially dealt with plasma physics, was a pioneer in the computer simulation of star formation and evolution in the late 1950s and 1960s. The Kippenhahn diagram named after him allows a clear presentation of the central results of star simulations.
He has been a member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences since 1970 and of the Leopoldina since 1972 . In 2005, the Royal Astronomical Society honored him with the Eddington Medal for his scientific merits in the calculation of star structure and evolution.
The famous astrology-critical saying "The stars don't lie - they are silent!" Comes from Kippenhahn.
Kippenhahn Prize
Since 2008, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics has been awarding the Kippenhahn Prize, donated by Kippenhahn, for the "best scientific work by a student at the MPA" from the previous year.
Awards
- 1973: Carus Medal from the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
- 1974: Carus Prize of the City of Schweinfurt
- 1992: Bruno H. Bürgel Prize of the Astronomical Society
- 1980: Member of the Sudeten German Academy of Sciences and Arts
- 1984: Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class
- 1986: Lorenz Oken Medal from the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors
- 1991: Name giver for the asteroid of the inner main belt (2947) Kippenhahn
- 1996: Medal for scientific journalism from the German Physical Society (DPG)
- 2005: Eddington Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society
- 2007: Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomical Society.
- 2016: Honorary membership of the Astronomical Society
Works
Scientific works
- R. Kippenhahn, Alfred Weigert : Stellar Structure and Evolution . Springer-Verlag Berlin, 1990 (2nd edition with Achim Weiss 2012). ISBN 3-540-58013-1 , ISBN 0-387-58013-1 , bibcode : 1990sse..book ..... K
- Claus Moellenhoff, R. Kippenhahn: Elementary plasma physics . Bibliographisches Institut Mannheim, 1975. ISBN 3-411-01489-X , bibcode : 1975elpl.book ..... K
- Light from the depths of time, Springer 1987
Popular scientific works
- Encrypted messages: Secret writing, Enigma and digital codes , 1997, Rowohlt TB 2012
- Cosmology: Basics , Piper 2011
- One, two, three ... infinite , Piper 2007
- Kippenhahn's great hours , Stuttgart: Kosmos 2006
- Cosmology in the back pocket , Piper 2003
- The secret of the great bear , Rowohlt TB 2003
- Top secret! How to encrypt messages and crack numeric codes , Rowohlt TB 2002
- Cupid and the distance to the sun. Stories from my cosmos , Piper 2001
- with Wolfram Knapp: black sun, red moon. The Eclipse of the Century , DVA 1999
- with Andreas Burkert: Die Milchstraße , Beck 1996
- Atom: research between fascination and horror , Piper 1994
- Adventure Space , 1991, Deutscher Bücherbund 1992
- The star we live on , Stuttgart: DVA 1990
- Eerie Worlds , Piper 1987
- Light from the Edge of the World , DVA 1984
- 100 billion suns , Piper 1980
Web links
- Literature by and about Rudolf Kippenhahn in the catalog of the German National Library
- Publications by R. Kippenhahn in the Astrophysics Data System
- Short biography and reviews of works by Rudolf Kippenhahn at perlentaucher.de
- Ulrich Schnabel, A planet bears his name, Die Zeit, December 25, 1992
- Interview at Astronomie.de, 2004
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rudolf Kippenhahn in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)
- ↑ Published in Zeitschrift für Astrophysik, Volume 26, 1958, pp. 26, 65
- ↑ Profile MPA
- ↑ Member entry of Rudolf Kippenhahn at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on July 15, 2016.
- ↑ see reports on the award under [1] , [2] and [3]
- ^ Winner of the Bruno-H.-Bürgel-Förderpreis. Astronomical Society, accessed November 16, 2018 .
- ^ Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp. 186 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed on September 23, 2019] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “1955 QP 1 . Discovered 1955 Aug. 22 by I. Groeneveld at Heidelberg. "
- ^ Winner of the Karl Schwarzschild Medal. Astronomical Society, accessed November 16, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kippenhahn, Rudolf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German astrophysicist and science author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 24, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bärringen , Czech Republic |