Walter Meidinger

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Walter Meidinger (born June 7, 1900 in Charlottenburg , † February 5, 1965 in Braunschweig ) was a German photochemist . From 1949 to 1962 he headed the photochemical laboratory of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig.

life and work

The son of the architect Max Meidinger (1856–1923) and his wife Hedwig, b. Ramisch (1868–1931) studied chemistry and physics at the University of Berlin from 1919 to 1923 . He received his doctorate in 1923 at the Institute for Physical Chemistry under John Eggert and Walter Noddack in the field of photochemistry with the dissertation Investigations on the photographic density curve . He then worked for three years in the scientific laboratory of the Agfa plants in Berlin before moving to the photochemical laboratory of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) in Berlin in 1927 . Here Meidinger was responsible, among other things, for monitoring compliance with the specifications of the light sensitivity of photographic storage media. He was appointed head of the laboratory in 1935. In 1943, the PTR moved its headquarters to Weida in Thuringia , where Meidinger also moved. From 1941 to 1945 he was chairman of the German Society for Photographic Research founded by Robert Luther in 1930 . After the end of the Second World War , Meidinger worked at the German Office for Weights and Measures in the Soviet occupation zone from 1945 to 1949 . From 1948 to 1962 he was chairman of the committee for sensitometry at the German standards committee , where he dealt among other things with the standardization of the sensitivity of photographic materials. From 1949 Meidinger was employed by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig, where he headed the photochemical laboratory until his retirement in 1962, most recently as a senior government councilor . He turned down the appointment to a university twice. Meidinger died in Braunschweig in 1965. His academic teacher John Eggert, emeritus professor of photography at ETH Zurich , paid tribute to him in an obituary.

Honors

In 1930 Meidinger received the silver medal and in 1943 the gold medal of the Vienna Photography Society . He was honored with the Henderson Medal of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1952.

Scientific importance

Meidinger played a significant role in the development of the scientific foundations of photography. His groundbreaking research results on the quantum yield of the photographic elementary process enabled advances in the theoretical understanding of the latent image . In 1939 he discovered the fluorescence of silver halides at low temperatures at the PTR , which enabled the spectral range of films to be expanded into the X-ray and infrared range. He carried out kinetic studies on the development of silver bromide particles with different exposure conditions and the distribution of the photolytically produced silver in photographic layers .

Fonts (selection)

  • The theoretical foundations of photographic processes . Series: Handbook of Scientific and Applied Photography , Volume 5, Vienna, Berlin 1932.
  • Investigations into the photographic density curve (dissertation), Berlin 1925.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PTB-Mitteilungen 122 (2012), Heft 2, S. 32. (PDF; 4.9 MB) on ptb.de

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Meidinger, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photochemist
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Charlottenburg
DATE OF DEATH February 5, 1965
Place of death Braunschweig