Ulrich Hofmann (physicist)

Ulrich Hofmann (2015)

Ulrich Hofmann as a mechanical engineering student in front of the main building of the Moscow Energy Institute (Technical University), 1952

Ulrich Max Richard Hofmann (born June 26, 1931 in Dolsthaida ) is a German physicist in the field of solid state physics and a manager .

Life and education

Ulrich Hofmann is the son of the industrial clerk and magazine administrator Max Hofmann and his wife Marta Hofmann nee Pohle. Since 1958 he was married to the museum educator Oktjabrina Wartanowna Hofmann, born Abgarjan, who died in 2018. The marriage resulted in the two daughters Ilona-Carmen Leisenberg nee Hofmann (* 1959) and Simone Hofmann (* 1964).

From 1937 to 1941 he attended the Dolsthaida elementary school. Afterwards he was a student at the private high school in Lauchhammer until the end of the Second World War .

In June 1945, he joined the then Soviet corporation Kombinat "Friedlander," Mückenberg , into teaching, which he in 1948 as Mountain Equipment husband and fitter with the craft certificate completed. He then worked for six months as a fitter in the construction of a power plant in the “Pfännerhall” lignite combine in Braunsbedra near Merseburg .

In the first half of 1949 Hofmann took part in a preparatory course for engineering studies at the Bad Liebenwerda district vocational school in Elsterwerda . From 1949 to 1951 he attended the Workers and Farmers Faculty (ABF) of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Halle (Saale) and passed the Abitur there .

He then studied one year at the Technical University of Dresden , the specialist physics and then in 1952 a year at the Moscow Energetic Institute , the area of energy engineering . From 1953 he studied physics at the Lomonosov University in Moscow . The lectures on theoretical physics with Lev Dawidowitsch Landau ( Nobel Prize in Physics 1962 ) were a particular highlight of his studies . In 1958 Ulrich Hofmann graduated from there with an experimental work on the temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization of nickel-copper alloys and their susceptibility in strong fields as a graduate physicist . His academic teacher was Yevgeny Ivanovich Kondorsky .

During his student years in Moscow, a close friendship developed with his German fellow student in physics Hardwin Jungclaussen , a close relative of the world-famous physicists Heinrich Hertz and Gustav Hertz , which lasted his entire life.

Research institute for special materials Dresden at the Academy of Sciences

Ulrich Hofmann (right) with his doctoral supervisor Günther Rassmann in front of a Europe-Asia border stone near Yekaterinburg (mid-1960s)

From 1958 to 1969 Hofmann worked at the Research Institute for Metallic Special Materials Dresden of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW), which was founded in 1952 by Friedrich Eisenkolb and Günther Rassmann . Until 1967 he was a scientific assistant, senior assistant and working group leader, from 1967 head of the department “Physical and Chemical Basics of Special Materials” and deputy director of the institute . In 1969 the research institute became part of the Central Institute for Solid State Physics and Materials Research and is now part of the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research .

In 1966 he was at the Faculty of Technology of the Technical University of Dresden with the dissertation The initial high permeability alloys, nickel-iron base for Doktoringenieur (Dr.-Ing.) PhD . His supervisors were academician Friedrich Eisenkolb and Professor Günther Rassmann , who was originally a factory owner as well as art lover and art connoisseur, therefore also bought numerous pictures by Lea Grundig and Hans Grundig at that time . He was expropriated in 1947, after which he worked in teaching and research.

The tasks of the Institute Hofmann, the structure was part of a laboratory for investigations of the magnetic basic sizes as Curie temperature , magnetization , crystal energy and magnetostriction of polycrystalline and monocrystalline homogeneous materials. These investigations were carried out as a function of various variables such as temperature, magnetic field, chemical composition and state of order.

He succeeded in establishing generally valid relationships between the chemical composition and the magnetic and electrical properties of highly permeable nickel-iron-filler metal alloys and interpreting them electronically (setting up a valence rule). In this way, a whole group of materials could be classified. In addition, it was possible to provide clear evidence that the second magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant of nickel is negative.

Further investigations concerned z. B. the basic magnetic constants of cobalt , the thermal expansion of iron-nickel alloys (Invar) and iron-platinum alloys, the thickness dependency of the saturation magnetization of thin nickel layers down to the nanometer range and the magnetic properties of alloys produced using powder metallurgy.

As head of the physical and chemical fundamentals of special materials department, he was responsible for the following areas of work: structural studies (electron microscopy, x-ray , neutron scattering , Mössbauer spectroscopy ), texture studies, theory (magnetic, electrical and mechanical properties), metallurgical analysis, studies at low temperatures as well as special problems of powder metallurgy .

During his work at the institute and afterwards, Hofmann supervised numerous engineering internships, document and state examination theses as well as doctoral theses.

He gained valuable experience in scientific management and organization from 1962 to 1967 while working as a part-time scientific consultant for physics in the research association of the mathematical, scientific and medical institutes of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin under academicians Hans Frühauf and Robert Rompe . During this time, diverse working relationships arose with Dresden-based academy institutes, for example the scientific school for control engineering and technical cybernetics of Heinrich Kindler , the founder of the first institute for control engineering in the German-speaking area. Kindler's pupils and later professors Karl Reinisch and Heinz Töpfer were also involved in these relationships . Or to the Institute for Applied Physics of Pure Substances , whose founder and director was Ernst Rexer .

At the beginning of 1969 Hofmann was appointed head of the materials science research department of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW) , in whose conception and development he played a major role. In the same year he was appointed honorary professor for solid state physics at the Technical University of Dresden and subsequently in 1983 he was appointed professor at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (AdW) by the then President Werner Scheler .

Academy of Sciences in Berlin

Ulrich Hofmann during his time as 1st Vice President of the AdW (1980s)

Former seat of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR in Berlin-Mitte, Jägerstrasse (on Gendarmenmarkt); Activity 1970–1990

In 1973 Lebedev Institute for Physics in Moscow. From right: Nikolai Gennadijewitsch Basow , director of the institute ( Nobel Prize in Physics 1964); Ulrich Hofmann, Vice President and Hermann Klare , President of the AdW of the GDR

Ulrich Hofmann with his wife Oktjabrina Wartanowna Hofmann in the PR China, Academy of Sciences (1989)

In 1970 Hofmann was elected a full member of the learned society of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. In September 1970 he was appointed Deputy President Hermann Klare for research and planning, in 1972 he was elected Vice President of the DAW and in 1980 1st Vice President of the AdW. His tasks included in particular: prognosis and research profile; Planning and organizing research; domestic cooperation; material, technical and financial requirements for research; Patent and licensing; scientific information and librarianship.

Hofmann participated in the elaboration of the principles for the management, planning and financing of the research of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and the Ministry of Higher and Technical Schools of the GDR (research regulation), as they came into force in 1972. After the university and academy reform of 1968/1972, both institutions carried out basic research on their own responsibility and as clients.

Hofmann dealt intensively with the elaboration of a concept for the long-term development of mathematical and scientific basic research as well as basic research of selected technical directions in the area of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education, which was first decided for the period 1975 to 1990 and then was refined and updated every five years.

From the point of view of better task finding for research and the transfer of results to production, Ulrich Hofmann helped to establish productive relationships between the academy and the ministries of the GDR and, above all, with the combines and companies. It was particularly important to him to develop and deepen cooperation with the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . His efforts also focused on cooperation, for example, with the central institutions for basic research in France , Italy , Japan , the Ukraine , Czechoslovakia , North Korea and China .

At the invitation of the Academy of Sciences, he stayed in the PRC in April 1989 in the period before the Tian'anmen massacre in order to expand scientific cooperation.

Scientific equipment construction received special support and funding in its work at the academy with the aim of improving the technical basis for research through its own measures or keeping it at the required level, as well as the development and promotion of modern research areas such as cybernetics and computer science , Communication and automation that developed in newly established institutes. In this context, his chairmanship of the “Council for Research Technology and Scientific Device Construction” as well as in the “Computer Science, Cybernetics and Automation” class of the AdW should be seen.

Activity in business

In June 1990, Hofmann was dismissed as 1st Vice-President by the then Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière, dismissed on October 2, 1990, and in January 1991 he ended his work at the Academy on his own initiative before the period of notice had expired.

In February 1991 Hofmann found a new job at Treuhand und Beratung Aktiengesellschaft (TREBAG), Munich, after he was able to find potential business partners in Russia.

In mid-1992, the employees of the Berlin TREBAG branch were taken over by the Munich group from Albrecht Graf Matuschka . In principle, the activity was continued, with more opportunities offered by the Matuschka Group, but with fewer opportunities in terms of financing projects by Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

One area of responsibility consisted of the mediation of Russian, Belarusian and Chinese buyers of companies in East Germany and the identification of East German companies for these buyers. This mainly affected mechanical engineering, the textile industry, the bicycle industry and companies that manufactured white goods . The cooperation between an Italian electronics group and Russian companies in the aerospace industry was brokered. Furthermore, the cooperation of Japanese companies with institutes and facilities in Russia and Belarus for technology transfer to Japan could be arranged.

In 1992 two Hamburg businessmen, a Berlin colleague and Hofmann himself founded Incomar Consultancy and Marketing GmbH as shareholders. It was an attempt to develop projects independently and to mediate between Russian and German companies. During this time, the German-Russian-American company Derusa GmbH was founded with the same objective, and Hofmann became a partner.

At the end of 1992, Metallgesellschaft AG , Frankfurt am Main, offered him the management of the German-Russian joint venture MPM Technologietransfer- und Vermarktungsgesellschaft mbH (MPM), which was founded on March 31, 1993. Metalchim AG was the partner on the Russian side. On April 1, 1993 he received a consulting contract from the metal company and was appointed managing director. As politically expected, the contract included a declaration that at no time had been an official or unofficial employee of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Incorrect or incomplete information entitles to immediate dismissal.

Congratulations from Ulrich Hofmann (left) on the 60th birthday of Heinz Riesenhuber (Member of the Bundestag) in the City Hall of Frankfurt am Main in 1995

His tasks included building up the company with a branch in Moscow and establishing stable working relationships between Russian institutes and companies on the one hand and the numerous subsidiaries of the metal company on the other. The chairman of the advisory board of the joint venture was the ex-minister for the defense industry of the Soviet Union, Boris Michailowitsch Beloussov, and a member of the advisory board was the ex-federal minister for research and technology, Heinz Riesenhuber .

Ulrich Hofmann in front of the main entrance of the Lurgihaus in Frankfurt am Main (1997)

Some of the main results of the work are listed below: Placing an order with Lurgi AG for the disposal of chemical warfare agents in Russia including participation (construction of a pilot plant by Lurgi AG in Russia at the end of the 1990s); Procurement of patent licenses for fire extinguishing agents for Dynamit Nobel AG; Mediation of the construction of a waste incineration plant in Russia (Tula) by Lurgi AG including cooperation; Organization of the certification (type approval) of two Russian companies in Tula for the production of pressure vessels (gas bottles for propane, butane), identification of German (lion gas) and French (Schneider) buyers, participation in export / import; Mediation of a production cooperation between Kolbenschmidt AG and Russian manufacturers of pistons and engine blocks; Procurement of technologies and catalysts from the Institute for Catalysis, Novosibirsk, for Lurgi AG (joint patent applications, patent license agreements, cooperation agreements).

Since MPM mainly worked for Lurgi AG, a subsidiary of Metallgesellschaft, it was taken over by the latter in 1995, but dissolved the following year on the grounds that, on the one hand, stable business relationships had been established with Russia and, on the other hand, permanent acute financing problems in Make Russia seem unsustainable in larger projects.

Until the end of his work for Lurgi AG in mid-1998, Ulrich Hofmann mainly dealt with the liquidation of MPM (processing and discontinuation of business activities), with the transfer of technologies ( catalysts ) and with project development (construction of a glucose-fructose factory in Russia ) to do.

In 1998 he was a consultant for Deutsche PhoneSat Holding AG in Berlin.

In 1999, together with three other freelancers, he attempted, on the basis of orders from German companies, projects in the direction of Cyprus ( solar thermal , photovoltaic , wind energy , waste management , water / wastewater) and in the direction of Russia (aerospace technology, technical products, Technology transfer). Then he developed and worked on projects alone.

In early 2002 he became a scientific advisor to Advanced Technology Industries, Inc., Delaware , USA . The focus of his work was the development and support of various technical and other projects with Russian companies as well as technology transfer. The following should be mentioned in particular: Assessment and development of a new type of technology for the production of high-purity magnesium oxide on the basis of Russian raw materials; Market development in the European Union; Assessment and development of a technology for the production of high quality vermiculite based on Siberian raw materials; Market development in Germany. This activity was ended at the end of 2003 with the sale of the company to Australian-Asian buyers.

In the years that followed, Hofmann looked for interested parties in Germany for the ball drive project .

In 2010 Ulrich Hofmann ended his professional activity for reasons of age. He lives - until 2018 together with his late wife - in Berlin-Mitte and in his summer residence in Prieros .

Memberships and awards (selection)

Physical Society of the GDR / German Physical Society , since 1958; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Solid State Physics Association (1974–1990),
Member of the Council of the International Laboratory for High Magnetic Fields and Low Temperatures in Wrocław, Poland (1968–1974),
Full member of the learned society of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW), since 1972 Academy of Sciences of the GDR (AdW) (1970–1992),
Member of the Social Council of the Technical University of Dresden (1972–1983),
Member of the Central Energy Commission of the GDR (1976–1983),
Member of the International Coordinating Committee for Scientific Device Construction and Automation of Scientific Research of the Academies of Sciences of Eastern European Countries (1979–1988),
Member of the City Council of Berlin (East) (1981–1990),
Member of the Society for Computer Science of the GDR and the United Federal Republic (1985–1996),
Secretary (chairman) of the computer science , cybernetics , automation class of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (1984–1992),
Member of the International Organizing Committee "Soft Magnetic Materials" (1987–1991),
Member of the Leibniz Society for Science in Berlin since 1993;
Patriotic Order of Merit (1974 and 1981),
Banner of Labor (1977, 1988),
Johannes Stroux Medal of the AdW of the GDR (1986).

Publications

Around 100 scientific publications have emerged from Hofmann's scientific work and his activities with a scientific management and scientific organizational character (see also the catalog of the German National Library ).

Ever. I. Kondorski, W. Je. Rode i U. Hofmann: Namagnitschennost nasystschenija nikel-mednych splawow pri niskich temperaturach. Akad. Nauk SSSR, ShETF 35 (1958) 549-550.
Ever. I. Kondorski, W. Je. Rode et U. Hofmann: Aimantation a saturation d'alliages nickel-cuivre a basses temperatures. Colloque International De Magnetisme, Paris: Center National Recherche Sci. (1959) 131-133.
W. Rode i U. Hofmann: Vospriimtschiwost nikel-mednych splawow v oblasti nasytschenija. Nautschnye Doklady Vysschej Schkoly , Fisiko-matematicheskije nauki 3 (1960) 148–150.
Some physical properties of sintered ferromagnetic bodies. Treatises of the German Academy of Sciences, class mathematics, physics and technology (1962) 237–246.
Properties of highly permeable nickel-iron-vanadium alloys. Magazine f. Angew. Physik 21 (1966) 5, 425-428.
U. Hofmann; Heinz Stiller : The determination of the Curie temperature of natural magnetites with the help of the method of thermodynamic coefficients. Magazine f. Geophysik 32 (1966) 5/6, 267-279.
The initial permeability of high permeability nickel-iron based alloys. Dissertation TU Dresden, Faculty of Technology. Dresden 1966.
The magnetic crystal anisotropy constants K1, K2, K3 of nickel-iron alloys. Magazine f. Angew. Physik 22 (1967) 2, 106-111.
G. Rassmann; U. Hofmann: Composition, state of order and properties of highly permeable nickel-iron base alloys . In: magnetism. Deutscher Verlag für Grundstoffindindustrie, Leipzig 1967, pp. 176–198.
H. Gengnagel and U. Hofmann: Temperature Dependence of the Magnetocrystalline Energy Constants K1, K2 and K3 of Iron. Phys. Stat. Sol. 29, 91-97 (1968).
U. Hofmann; A. Handstein; K. Hausmann: On the Temperature Dependence of the Magnetic Crystal Energy of Nickel. Phys. Stat. Sol. 40 (1969) K 81.
K. Hausmann; U. Hofmann; M. Wolf: On the Influence of Atomic Order in Ni3Fe on the Magnetic Anisotropy and the Electrical Resistivity. Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 6 (1971) 161-164.
Properties of High-Permeability Nickel-Iron-Tungsten Alloys. Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 11 (1972) 145-152.
Physical Properties of Nickel-Rhenium Alloys. Phys. Stat. Sol (a) 33 (1976) 119-123.
U. Hofmann, Volker Kempe : The 5th generation of computers. Session reports of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, Mathematics-Natural Sciences-Technology. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1986.
IS Braude; U. Hofmann; H.-J. Merchant; VI Startsev: Effect of Point Defects on the Character of Distortions in High-Purity Molybdenium Single Crystals. Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) (1986) 98, p. 521-526.
AB Lebedev; BK Kardashev; U. Hofmann; H.-J-Kaufmann; D. Schulze: Dislocation Internal Friction and Temperature Dependence of Yield Stress in High-Purity Molybdenium Single Crystals. Crist. Res. Technol. 24 (1989) 11, 1143-1149.
U. Hofmann (Ed.): Contributions to research technology, series of publications for experimental methodology, systems analysis and instrumentation in scientific, medical and technical research. Akademieverlag, Berlin, publ. irregularly, from 1975 to 1989 eighteen issues and several special volumes.
U. Hofmann: To the planning and organization of research at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. Treatises of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, Volume 6, pp. 63–75. trafo Verlag, Berlin 2001. In: The Berlin Academy after 1945, contemporary witnesses report. Edited by Wolfdietrich Hartung and Werner Scheler .
U. Hofmann: The Academy of Sciences of the GDR - report by a responsible party. In: Research Academies in the GDR - Models and Reality, pp. 65–102. Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2014. Edited by Wolfgang Girnus and Klaus Meier .

literature

Werner Scheler : From the German Academy of Sciences to Berlin to the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. Outline of the genesis and transformation of the academy. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2000.
Who is Who in the Federal Republic of Germany. 8th edition, Verlag für Personenenzyklopädien AG, Zug / Switzerland 2001.
Dieter Hoffmann: Hofmann, Ulrich . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Ulrich Hofmann in the professorial catalog of the Technical University of Dresden
Ulrich Hofmann in the directory of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences .

Web links

Commons : Ulrich Hofmann - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Ulrich Hofmann: Investigation of the temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization of nickel-copper alloys and their susceptibility in strong fields. Moscow State University (MGU; Lomonosov University), Faculty of Physics, thesis, Moscow 1958.

↑ HardWin Jungclaussen : free in three dictatorships. How I experienced my life and how I found my happiness. Series Autobiographies Volume 48. trafo Verlagsgruppe Dr. Wolfgang Weist, trafo Literaturverlag, Berlin 2015, pp. 112–125, ISBN 978-3-86465-050-5 .

↑ Ulrich Hofmann: The initial permeability of highly permeable alloys based on nickel-iron. Technical University of Dresden, Faculty of Technology, dissertation, Dresden 1966.

^ Friedrich Eisenkolb in the professorial catalog of the Technical University of Dresden.

^ Günther Rassmann in the professorial catalog of the Technical University of Dresden.

↑ G. Rassmann and U. Hofmann: Classification of High-Permeability Nickel-Iron-Alloys. Journ. Appl. Phys. Vol. 39, no. 2 (Part I) 603-605, February 1, 1968.

↑ Ulrich Hofmann: On the temperature dependence and determination of the sign of the magnotocrystalline anisotropy constant K2 of nickel. Phys, stat. Sol. 7 (1964) K 145-150.

^ Ulrich Hofmann: On the research cooperation between the universities and the academy. Experiences of a contemporary witness and co-designer. Treatises of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, Volume 29, pp. 133–153. trafo Wissenschaftsverlag Dr. Wolfgang Weist, Berlin 2010. In: Academy and University from a historical and current perspective, annual conference of the Leibniz Society 2010. Edited by Herbert Hörz and Hubert Laitko . Pp. 146-152.

↑ Yearbook 1990/1991 of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and the coordination and processing office for the institutes and facilities of the former Academy of Sciences of the GDR. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1994. pp. 4, 18, 48, 235-240.

↑ Der Tagesspiegel, April 25, 1990 “Only the“ old ones ”are candidates”.

↑ High government awards. In Berliner Zeitung, April 30th / April 1st May 1988, p. 5.

personal data
SURNAME	Hofmann, Ulrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hofmann, Ulrich Max Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German physicist in the field of solid state physics and manager
DATE OF BIRTH	June 26, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dolsthaida

[1] Ulrich Hofmann: Investigation of the temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization of nickel-copper alloys and their susceptibility in strong fields. Moscow State University (MGU; Lomonosov University), Faculty of Physics, thesis, Moscow 1958.

[2] HardWin Jungclaussen : free in three dictatorships. How I experienced my life and how I found my happiness. Series Autobiographies Volume 48. trafo Verlagsgruppe Dr. Wolfgang Weist, trafo Literaturverlag, Berlin 2015, pp. 112–125, ISBN 978-3-86465-050-5 .

[3] Ulrich Hofmann: The initial permeability of highly permeable alloys based on nickel-iron. Technical University of Dresden, Faculty of Technology, dissertation, Dresden 1966.