Theodor Schmidt (physicist)

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Karl Theodor Schmidt (born July 29, 1908 in Düsseldorf , † December 10, 1986 in Sulzburg ) was a German physicist and mathematician.

life and work

Theodor Schmidt, the son of a senior teacher, studied mathematics, physics and chemistry at the University of Göttingen , the University of Vienna (one semester) and the University of Greifswald from 1927 after graduating from high school in Düsseldorf . In 1932 he passed the state examination for teachers. In 1933 he received his doctorate in mathematics under Karl Reinhardt in Greifswald (dissertation: on the division of d-dimensional space into lattice-like cubes). At the same time he did his doctorate in physics with Rudolf Seeliger . He then initially wanted to work with James Franck in Göttingen (and in 1933/34 studied one semester each with Franck in Göttingen and Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig), but went to Hermann Schüler in Potsdam via Leipzig on the recommendation of Werner Heisenberg . In 1937 he completed his habilitation in Greifswald, where he was a private lecturer from 1938 and an adjunct professor for theoretical physics from 1944. From 1939 to 1944 he did his military service with interruptions and was briefed on the uranium project of the Reichspost Ministry in Miersdorf . In 1945/46 he supported Rudolf Seeliger at the University of Greifswald in his role as rector. In 1946 he was offered the rector's office in Greifswald if he would join the SED, which he refused. In October 1946 ( Aktion Ossawakim ) he was forcibly committed to the Soviet Union (he worked on the rocket program because he was mistaken for one of the rocket specialists) and did not return to Germany (East Berlin) until November 1953. A publication on anomalies of the isotope shift (in Russian) was initially accepted for publication by the journal JETP in the Soviet Union in 1947, but was then prohibited. In the Soviet Union, he headed a trajectory calculation group. In February 1954 he went to the Federal Republic with the support of the American secret services. He initially went to the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg as a senior assistant , where Wolfgang Gentner promoted him to scientific advice. and he initially worked on the reconstruction of the 1.5 MeV Van de Graaf accelerator before they got a new 6 MeV Van de Graaf accelerator approved from the USA in 1955. He became an associate professor in 1956 and a full professor in 1959, after rejecting an offer to Aachen in 1958. In 1973 he retired.

In systematic investigations of the hyperfine structure in the atomic spectra with Hermann Schüler in Potsdam (at the solar observatory on the Telegraphenberg in Babelsberg) he showed the existence of electrical nuclear quadrupole moments and Schmidt lines for nuclei with unpaired neutrons or protons, indications of deformation of the nuclei by collective ones Movements (quadrupole moment) or (with Schmidt lines) single-particle movement.

In his dissertation in 1933 he solved a conjecture by Hermann Minkowski about the filling of n-dimensional Euclidean spaces with cubes for dimensions less than or equal to eight (the general case was proven by György Hajós in 1941).

In 1977 he received an honorary doctorate in Heidelberg.

In 1935 he married Eva Krieger, with whom he had three daughters and a son.

Fonts

  • On deviations of the atomic nucleus from spherical symmetry, Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 94, 1935, p. 457.
  • with H. Schüler: About the magnetic moments of atomic nuclei, Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 106, 1937, p. 358
  • The Physics Institute of the University of Freiburg, Freiburg University Gazette, May 1968, p. 51
  • with Christian Schlier: Memories of the Discovery of Nuclear Quadrupole Moments , Physics in Our Time, Volume 16, 1985, p. 64

literature

  • Peter Brix: In 1935, Schüler and Schmidt discovered the nuclear quadrupole moments, Physics in Our Time, Volume 16, 1985, p. 63
  • Helmut Spehl: In memoriam Theodor Schmidt, Freiburger Universitätsblätter, March 1987, p. 9
  • Klaus-Peter Lieb Theodor Schmidt and Hans Kopfermann-Pioneers in Hyperfine Interaction , Hyperfine Interactions, Vol. 136/137, p. 783
  • Kurt Magnus: Rocket Slave - German Researcher Behind Red Barbed Wire , 1993
  • Entry in: Baden-Württembergische Biographien, Volume 2, pp. 412–414

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ He only used the first name Theodor
  2. ↑ Schlüpmann, Kopfermann biography
  3. ↑ Ulrich Albrecht, Andreas Heinemann-Gründer, Arend Wellmann: Die Spezial., German natural scientists and technicians in the Soviet Union after 1945, Berlin: Dietz 1992, p. 97
  4. ↑ Dieter Hoffmann, Ulrich Schmidt-Rohr: Wolfgang Gentner, a physicist as a naturalist, in: Hoffmann, Schmidt-Rohr (Ed.): Wolfgang Gentner, Festschrift zum 100th Birthday, Springer 2006, p. 34
  5. ↑ Schüler, Schmidt About deviations of the atomic nucleus from spherical symmetry , Zeitschrift für Physik Vol. 94, 1935, p. 457
  6. ^ Schmidt, Zeitschrift für Physik, Vol. 106, 1937, p. 358
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Karl Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1986
Place of death Sulzburg