Rudolf Lappe

Rudolf Lappe (born May 27, 1914 in Chemnitz ; † August 11, 2013 in Dresden ) was a German university professor in the field of electrical engineering . Lappe is considered the nestor of power electronics in the GDR.

Life

Rudolf Lappe was born in the Chemnitz district of Kaßberg as the son of a Jewish lawyer. In 1933 he passed the Abitur at the Reform Real Gymnasium in Chemnitz . Since, as a Jew, he was not admitted to a German university, his wish to study at the Technical University of Chemnitz was refused.

When Lappe's father was arrested, he emigrated to England in April 1933. The 19-year-old began studying electrical engineering at the University of London, which he continued at Battersea Polytechnic and graduated in 1936 with a Bachelor of Science (Engineering). Until 1941 he worked as an engineer in industry. As a so-called social worker, he volunteered to look after Jews living in London's East End . In 1940 Lappe was interned as a so-called enemy alien for a few months on the Isle of Man . There he joined a group of Austrian anti-fascists and also met his future wife. As a result, he first joined Young Austria , a youth association closely related to the Austrian Communist Party . He later became a member of the KPD . After his release from the internment camp, Lappe first trained English officers in electrical engineering. From 1942 until well after the end of the war, he worked as an independent technical consultant and lecturer at the Wimbledon Technical College in London.

In 1948 Lappe moved back to his Saxon homeland. He was initially employed as an assistant at the Institute for General Electrical Engineering at the reopened Technical University in Dresden. In 1949, Lappe was commissioned to develop and teach the field of power converter technology. In 1953 he received his doctorate with the dissertation residual ionization in mercury vapor discharges with Heinrich Barkhausen and Georg Mierdel . In 1955, Lappe was initially given a professorship, and after completing his habilitation in 1959 on the subject of drive controls for induction motors with gas discharge valves or magnetic amplifiers, from 1960 onwards a full professorship with a chair for power converters and electrical heating at the then Faculty of Electrical Engineering. In the course of the introduction of the NÖSPL and a closer integration of science and business aimed at by Walter Ulbricht , the SED member Rudolf Lappe was at the VI. SED party congress elected as a candidate for the SED Central Committee. There was no re-election at the next party conference in 1967. After the III. University reform and the conversion of the technical university into a technical university, Lappe taught from 1969 until his retirement in 1978 as a professor for rectifier technology in the electrical engineering section. At the same time he headed the power electronics teaching group. In the following years Lappe devoted himself mainly to his scientific publications. 1989 Lappe received from the Technical University of Chemnitz , the honorary doctorate awarded. He remained true to his basic anti-fascist attitude and was also a member of the SED successors, the PDS and Die Linke .

Scientific work

Lappe laid the foundation stone for the establishment of semiconductor technology in the GDR and was significantly involved in the development of power converter technology in the GDR. He founded the first chair for power electronics in the GDR at the TH Dresden. He conducted his research in close connection with industry. Lappe was the author of several standard scientific works such as the textbook Power Electronics, which appeared in 1987 in both East and West .

Web link

• Günter Dörfel:  Rudolf Lappe . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .