Siegfried Czapski

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Siegfried Czapski

Siegfried Czapski (born May 28, 1861 on the Obra estate near Koschmin , Posen Province , † June 29, 1907 in Weimar ) was a German physicist .

Childhood, school and studies in Breslau (1870–1881)

Czapski was the son of Simon Czapski (1826-1908) and his wife Rosalie Goldenring (1830-1916). In 1870 his father suffered a serious accident, as a result of which he was unable to work. The family sold the property and moved to Breslau , where eleven-year-old Czapski attended Maria Magdalenen grammar school from 1872 . In 1879 he graduated from high school there (together with Wilhelm Prausnitz , Richard Reitzenstein and Felix Skutsch ) and began studying for one semester at the University of Göttingen : He attended lectures by Eduard Riecke ( physics ), Moritz Abraham Stern ( mathematics ) and Rudolf Hermann Lotze ( Philosophy ). From his second semester he studied physics with Oskar Emil Meyer , Ernst Dorn and Felix Auerbach , mathematics with Jakob Rosanes and philosophy with Jacob Freudenthal at the University of Breslau . Since that time he was friends with Arthur Heidenhain (1862–1941), with whom he had a lifelong pen friendship.

Studies and graduation in Berlin (1881–1884)

In 1881 Czapski moved to the University of Berlin to study with the physicists Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff . He was in contact with Leopold Loewenherz . His interest was in experimental physics and so he also took practical craft courses. In 1882 Czapski worked for the normal calibration committee under the direction of the astronomer Wilhelm Julius Foerster . From autumn he worked on his doctorate with Hermann von Helmholtz, during which he experimentally tested a Helmholtz theory. He submitted his dissertation to Helmholtz and Kirchhoff in November 1883. This was followed by doctoral exams in December, in physics with Helmholtz and Kirchhoff, in mathematics with Leopold Kronecker and in philosophy with Eduard Zeller . In February 1884 he completed his doctorate with the Rigorosum .

Technical optics: Carl Zeiss in Jena (from 1884)

It went with his interest in physical and technical optics that he was able to work for Carl Bamberg's workshop for scientific precision instruments (later Askania Werke ) from July 1st . To sound out these areas, he turned to Ernst Abbe from the Zeiss factory in Jena. Abbe made Czapski his assistant, which he stayed until 1886, and included him in his discussions with the physicist Leonhard Sohncke from the University of Jena . After Czapski had a relatively loose connection to the Zeiss company as an assistant until 1886 and was still accepting orders for Bamberg at the same time, this situation changed with a permanent contract that made him (with the consent of Carl and Roderich Zeiss ) Abbe's closest colleague .

As early as 1885, Abbe included Czapski in his theoretical work, which he published in the following years because Abbe himself was too busy with the development work and could not or did not want to have the time or patience. In 1893, after five years, he finally managed to complete his contribution to Adolf Winkelmann's Handbuch der Physik : Theory of Optical Instruments according to Abbe . The 300-page work appeared as a reprint from Volume II of the manual in the same year and was recognized as a basic work for technical optics.

With Abbe and Otto Schott in Jena and Leopold Dippel in Darmstadt , Czapski was involved in the design and manufacture of new microscope optics right from the start of his time in Jena . This was followed by the technical implementation of a binocular microscope based on the ideas of the American biologist Horatio S. Greenough . The product range of the expanding company grew: in 1890 the production of photographic lenses began, in 1892/93 optical measuring devices, in 1893/94 prism binoculars largely co-developed by Czapski , in 1897 astronomical instruments and in 1901 image measuring devices .

The growing range of products, the company's level of awareness, which extends far beyond the borders of Germany, and the constantly increasing number of employees associated with all of this made more and more demands on Czapski. From 1891 he was one of three managing directors at Carl Zeiss.

The Carl Zeiss Foundation is established

After Abbe established the Carl Zeiss Foundation in 1889 and in 1891 the Zeiss company was completely transferred into the ownership of the Foundation and half of the Schott company , Czapski became the Foundation's representative. In addition to Abbe and a foundation commissioner from the Grand Ducal Saxon State Ministry in Weimar (first it was Karl Rothe , from 1899 the secret government councilor Max Vollert ), Czapski took on more and more functions in the company management, which increasingly affected his health. In addition to the university curator Heinrich von Eggeling and the lawyer Eduard Rosenthal , Abbe also included Czapski in the drafting of the foundation statute , which meant that he increasingly had to deal with questions and problems of the workers. Work on the statute was completed in 1895/96.

Siegfried and Margarete Czapski

Siegfried Czapski's grave in the north cemetery in Jena

Czapski's life changed in 1885 when he met and fell in love with Margarete Koch. Margarete (actually Marguerite) was the granddaughter of Abbe's teacher, the mathematician and physicist Karl Snell . Margarete's father was a professor at a high school in Paris and a nephew of Juliette Drouet , Victor Hugo's partner . His wife Ottilie Koch b. Snell often visited her father in Jena, accompanied by her daughter. Ottilie was also the sister of Else Abbe, Abbe's wife. It was inevitable that 24-year-old Czapski and 19-year-old Margarete Koch got to know each other. They got engaged - at first secretly - after only knowing each other a few weeks. The wedding was not due to take place until two years later, after Margarete's 21st birthday: They married on August 11, 1887.

The marriage had eight children:

  • 1888 Charlotte ("Lotte"), married to Herbert Koch
  • 1889 Hans
  • 1891–1968 Helene , married. Holzman
  • 1892 Ewald
  • 1894 Elisabeth , married to Wilhelm Flitner
  • 1896 Dorothea
  • July 13, 1902 Reinhardt
  • December 22, 1903 Anna-Maria ("Anni")

Czapski's health has always been in poor health. His enormous workload also contributed to this. On June 29, 1907, he died of a pulmonary embolism as a result of an appendix operation. So he survived his fatherly friend Ernst Abbe, whose companion and successor he was, by only two and a half years.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Siegfried Czapski  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Flitner, Joachim Wittig (ed.): Optics - Technology - Social Culture. Siegfried Czapski, companion and successor of Ernst Abbes. Letters, writings, documents , Hain-Verl., Rudolstadt 2000, ISBN 3-930215-91-8 , p. 57.
personal data
SURNAME Czapski, Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH near Koschmin , Province of Poznan
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1907
Place of death Weimar