Walter Herrmann (physicist)

Walter Herrmann

Heinrich Walter Herrmann (born September 22, 1910 in Querfurt , † August 11, 1987 in Leipzig , buried in Querfurt) was a German physicist in the fields of nuclear physics and radioactivity .

Life

Walter Herrmann was the son of a savings bank clerk in Querfurt. From 1916 to 1926 he attended school in Querfurt and then in Halle until he graduated from high school in 1930. From 1930 to 1936 Herrmann studied physics, chemistry and mathematics in Halle and Berlin and in 1936 took the examination for teaching at secondary schools in Halle. From 1937 to 1940 he worked as a research assistant at the Physics Institute of the University of Leipzig .

In late 1939 began Kurt Diebner parallel to the work of harnessing nuclear fission at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics and the Physical Institute of the University of Leipzig with the development of its own nuclear research group at the Experimental Station of the Army Ordnance Office in Gottow, now part of the municipality Nuthe-Urstromtal in Luckenwalde. In this group, Walter Herrmann worked as a civilian employee from 1940. The experimental setups in Gottow, designated GI, G II and G III, were all based on a grid-like arrangement of uranium cubes into which a neutron source was inserted to measure the neutron multiplication. The tests proved that the cube arrangement as a nuclear reactor concept was superior to the plate arrangements used elsewhere in terms of neutron yield. G IIIb, in particular, had the highest neutron yield of 106% achieved in Germany up to that point.This provided experimental proof of the possible use of nuclear energy, without knowing that Enrico Fermi had succeeded in a controlled nuclear chain reaction in Chicago in December 1942 . The participation of Walter Herrmann in all of these experiments is proven by secret reports published at the time.

In 1943 Walter Herrmann was awarded a doctorate in the mathematical and natural sciences department of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leipzig. phil. PhD .

When Kurt Diebner became deputy representative of the Reich Research Council for nuclear physics research in 1944 , Herrmann became a civilian employee at the Reich Research Council. In 1943–44, Diebner tried to initiate thermonuclear reactions on light elements by means of explosions with shaped charges , but this failed. Herrmann also participated in these experiments. In autumn 1944 Diebner's research group was relocated to Stadtilm in Thuringia. The further transfer to Bavaria was thwarted by the end of the war.

After the war, Herrmann initially worked as a campaign chemist in the Zeitz sugar factory in 1945/46 .

In 1946 he was brought to the Soviet Union with his family and other German specialists. Here they worked isolated and guarded on basic research on the Soviet nuclear program. Herrmann headed a laboratory for special forms of nuclear decay as a "senior scientist" in an institute in Obninsk . From 1952 he worked in Sukhumi . Work results from this time are still secret.

After returning from the Soviet Union in 1955, Walter Herrmann devoted himself to the use of radioactivity for science and business. Together with Carl Friedrich Weiss , he set up the Institute for Applied Radioactivity in Leipzig , where he made significant contributions both to the conception of the research and to the new institute building. From 1956 to 1966 he was deputy director and from 1966 to 1968 director of this institute. His scientific interest was radioactive measurement technology as well as the methodology and application of autoradiography .

In 1958 Walter Herrmann received the National Prize of the GDR, 2nd class.

From 1956 he was a lecturer at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, where he completed his habilitation in 1960. In 1961 he was appointed professor by the GDR Academy of Sciences. From 1966 until his health-related retirement in 1971 at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig as a part-time professor with a full teaching position for applied radioactivity.

Publications (selection)

• K. Diebner, W. Herrmann and E. Grassmann: absorption and scattering of neutrons (compilation of results) . Physics. Zs. 43rd year 1942, issue 21, pp. 440-465
• K. Diebner, W. Czulius, W. Herrmann, G. Hartwig, F. Berkei and E. Kamin: About the neutron multiplication of an arrangement of uranium cubes and heavy water . Atomkern-Energie 1956, Heft 7/8, pp. 256-265
• W. Herrmann, K. Renker: Construction and testing of an automatic scintillation spectrometer for analytical purposes . Nuclear Energy 2nd year, issue 5/59, pp. 413-430
• W. Herrmann, G. Hartmann, K. Freyer: Report on methodological studies on autoradiography . Nuclear Energy 7 (1964) pp. 540-543
• W. Herrmann: Ten years at the Institute for Applied Radioactivity . Isotopenpraxis 2 H. 2/1966, pp. 49-55
• W. Herrmann: Autoradiography . In: Handbook of measurement technology in operational control , Volume V: Measurement methods using ionizing radiation . Pp. 839-858, Akad. Verl. Gesellsch. Geest and Portig, Leipzig 1969

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The development of the atomic bomb in Germany - Research Center Gottow Bergbauverein Ronneburg (accessed on October 6, 2010)
2. ↑ K. Diebner, W. Czulius, W. Herrmann, G. Hartwig, F. Berkei and E. Kamin: About the neutron multiplication of an arrangement of uranium cubes and heavy water . Atomkern-Energie 1956, Heft 7/8, pp. 256-265
3. ↑ Werner Tautorius (alias Kurt Diebner): The German secret work on nuclear energy recovery during the Second World War 1939-1945 , Atomkern-Energie 1956, issue 10, p. 368, therein:
   • K. Diebner, W. Herrmann: Absorption and scattering of neutrons
   • K. Diebner, W. Czulius, F. Berkei, G. Hartwig, W. Herrmann, W. Borrmann, KH Höcker, H. Pose, W. Rexer: Versuchsstelle Gottow of the Heereswaffenamt: Report on a cube experiment with uranium oxide and paraffin . 1941/42
   • K. Diebner, W, Czulius, F. Berkei, G. Hartwig, W. Herrmann: Report on a cube experiment with uranium metal and heavy water at low temperatures . 1942/43
   • K. Diebner, W. Czulius, W. Herrmann, G. Hartwig, F. Berkei, E. Kamin: About the neutron multiplication of an arrangement of uranium cubes and heavy water . 1943/44
4. ↑ The topic of the dissertation was: About the determination of the density, the compressibility and the thermal expansion coefficient of liquids by pressure, temperature and weight comparison of the buoyancy of very small swimmers . The speakers were Max Friedrich Gerhard Hoffmann and Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer .
5. ↑ W. Herrmann, G. Hartwig, H. Rackwitz, W. Trinks and H. Schaub: Attempts to initiate nuclear reactions through the effects of exploding substances G-303 (1944)
6. ↑ Pavel V. Oleynikov: German Scientists in the Soviet Atomic Project , The Nonproliferation Review Volume 7, Number 2, 1-30 (2000)