Wolfgang Wenzel

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Wolfgang Wenzel (born October 4, 1929 in Sonneberg ) is a German astronomer . He is considered a specialist in the field of exploring variable stars and the father of photoelectric photometry at the Sonneberg observatory .

Life

Wolfgang Wenzel was born in Sonneberg in 1929 as the son of a businessman. After graduating from high school in 1948, he initially took a position at the Sonneberg observatory as an intern (scientific auxiliary computer). From 1949 to 1953 he studied astronomy and mathematics at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena .

As a graduate astronomer he came back to Sonneberg and worked with young variable stars . At first he determined the change in the light intensity of these stars with the help of photo plates , but soon he dealt with the possibilities of photoelectric photometry in order to obtain more precise measurements. To do this, Wenzel measured the time course of the light intensity of the variable star under study and that of a non- variable comparison star and calculated the differences between them in order to eliminate intensity fluctuations due to atmospheric influences. Under his direction, photoelectric photometers were designed, built and used for decades. A worldwide first in the mid-1970s was a photometer that was sensitive to infrared light and developed under his leadership, despite the general chronic shortage of materials in the GDR .

In 1957/1958 Wenzel stayed several times for long periods of time at the Heidelberg observatory to take celestial photographs of variable stars with the Bruce telescope . This was necessary because the great astrograph from the Sonneberg Observatory went to the Crimean Observatory in the former Soviet Union with a 40-centimeter telescope as reparation . In addition, he made recordings of minor planets during his stays . He did not take up an offer from the Heidelberg observatory for permanent employment. In 1959 he presented his doctoral thesis "Some properties of the irregular variable star low luminosity" completed and was in 1961 at the University of Jena to Dr. rer. nat. PhD.

After the death of Cuno Hoffmeister , the founder and long-time director of the Sonneberg observatory, and its incorporation into the newly founded Central Institute for Astrophysics (ZIAP) in connection with the reform of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin , Wenzel became scientific work manager in 1968, responsible for the organization of the research work at the Sonneberg observatory. In 1968, Wenzel had to withdraw his candidacy for the board of directors of the Astronomical Society , the professional representation of astronomers responsible for the entire German-speaking area, on the instructions of Hans-Jürgen Treder , director of the ZIAP , and in 1969, like all astronomers in the GDR, declare his departure.

When in 1969 the end of the Sonneberg observatory was decided by the management of the ZIAP , Wenzel took the initiative and was able to prevent the observatory from being closed after a great struggle. In order to prevent a time gap in the Sonneberg photo plate archive , if not the termination of what is now the longest series of photographic observations in the world, he disregarded a ban on observing the large telescopes of the observatory issued by Treder using civil disobedience , which later led to the ban being withdrawn.

The appointment of Wenzel as department head of the ZIAP and thus director of the Sonneberg observatory was thwarted several times by the former Sonneberg district management of the SED in cooperation with an unofficial employee (IM) of the Ministry for State Security (code name "Hagen") working at the observatory . He did not accept the appointment as director of the Tautenburg observatory in 1974 because he would no longer have been able to work in his specialty, the exploration of variable stars .

In the 1960s and 1970s, Wenceslas took part in general assemblies and colloquiums of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and stayed for research purposes at various observatories in the then Eastern Bloc ( Ondřejov observatory , Byurakan observatory , Roschen observatory , Konkoly observatory ). In 1973 Wenzel was elected Vice President of Commission 27 (Variable Stars) of the IAU . The IAU's proposal to be elected President of Commission 27 in 1976 had to be rejected by the direction of the ZIAP and at the instigation of the Sonneberg district leadership of the SED. In 1981, Wenzel's status as a travel cadre was revoked for good , so that he could no longer take part in specialist conferences outside the Eastern Bloc.

If Wenzel had hoped that in the course of the fall of the Wall in 1989, access to more modern computer and measurement technology would bring significant progress for research, he was disappointed by 1991 at the latest. After the negative scientific assessment of the Sonneberg observatory by an evaluation commission of the Science Council in the context of German reunification and the subsequent decision to close the Sonneberg observatory, Wenzel reported as unemployed at the then Sonneberg employment office in 1991 . From 1992 to 1994 he had the opportunity to work on a project initiated by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics “Optical Accompanying Effects of Gamma Radiation Outbreaks” . He finally retired in 1994.

In his spare time, Wenzel, who is also an excellent connoisseur of local bird songs and orchids, is actively involved in nature conservation . He was a member of the Cultural Association of the GDR settled Section " ornithology and conservation" of the circle Sonnenberg and took along with family members and friends of nature in the 1970s and 1980s, first with scythes , and later with the help of a mountain mower to mowing a mountain meadow near the source of the Röthen in order to get the spring gentian found there (one of two occurrences in Thuringia ). This meadow, which without Wenzel's initiative would have turned into a tall herbaceous corridor , became part of the “Röthengrund” nature reserve in 1992 and has been maintained by the “Jungdo-Hütte im Röthengrund eV” association since then . Since 1994 Wenzel has been a member of the Nature Conservation Council of the Sonneberg district .

Wolfgang Wenzel has been married since 1956 and has four children: a daughter and three sons.

The asteroid (58607) Wenceslas was named after him on April 7, 2005.

bibliography

  • Some properties of the irregularly variable, low luminosity stars. Publications of the observatory in Sonneberg; Vol. 5, no.1, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin (1961)
  • Variable stars. (together with C. Hoffmeister and G. Richter) Springer Verlag, Berlin (1985), ISBN 3-540-13403-4 . (English)
  • Peremennye zvezdy. (together with C. Hoffmeister and G. Richter) Nauka, Moskva (1990), ISBN 5-02-014352-9 . (Russian)
  • Variable stars. (together with C. Hoffmeister and G. Richter) JA Barth Verlag, Leipzig (1990), ISBN 3-335-00224-5 .
  • Sonneberger photographic sky atlas. (together with I. Häusele) JA Barth Verlag, Leipzig (1991), ISBN 3-335-00297-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Wenzel, W. Westhus, F. Fritzlar, R. Haupt, W. Hiekel: The nature reserves of Thuringia . Weissdorn-Verlag, Jena (2012), ISBN 978-3-936055-66-5 , p. 658

References

  • T. Weber (editor): 75 years of the Sonneberg observatory 1925-2000. Friends of the Sonneberg Observatory (2001)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wenzel, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Sonneberg