Heinz Maier-Leibnitz
Encyclopedia
Heinz Maier-Leibnitz was a German
physicist. He made contributions to nuclear spectroscopy, coincidence measurement techniques, radioactive tracers for biochemistry and medicine, and neutron optics. He was an influential educator and an advisor to the Federal Republic of Germany on nuclear programs.
During World War II, Maier-Leibnitz worked at the Institute of Physics of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, in Heidelberg. After the war, he spent a year working in North America, after which he returned to the Institute of Physics. In 1952, he assumed the Chair for Technical Physics and directorship of the Laboratory for Technical Physics at the Technische Hochschule München. He became a leader in establishing and building centers which used nuclear reactors as neutron sources for research. The first was the Research Reactor Munich, which was the seed for the entire Garching research campus of the Technische Hochschule München. The second was the German-French project to construct a high-flux neutron source and found the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France; he was also its first director. His leadership also helped establish the Physics Department at the Technische Hochschule München. Maier-Leibnitz was the chairman of a special committee for designing the German Nuclear Program, and thus he was the architect of the first full-scale nuclear program of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was a signatory of the Göttingen Manifest.
In his honor, the German Research Foundation annually awards six scientists with the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis
. The research reactor Forschungsreaktor München II
is officially named Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz.
and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. He received his doctorate in 1935, from the University of Göttingen, under the Nobel Laureate James Franck
and Georg Joos
– Franck had emigrated from Germany in 1933 and his successor was Joos. Maier-Leibnitz was in the field of atomic physics, and he discovered metastable, negative helium ions, which later had applications in particle accelerators.
, Director of the Institut für Physik (Institute for Physics) of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung (KWImF, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research), in Heidelberg
. [Note: After World War II, the KWImF was renamed the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung
. In 1958, Bothe’s Institut für Physik was spun off and elevated to become the Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics).] Bothe had first met Maier-Leibnitz while on a recruiting trip to the University of Göttingen during which Robert Pohl
and Georg Joos
highly recommended Maier-Leibnitz for his intelligence and creativity. Maier-Leibnitz arrived at the Institute for Physics shortly after the arrival of Wolfgang Gentner
, who became recognized as Bothe’s second in command and took Maier-Leibnitz under his wing to become his mentor, critic, and a close friend. Maier-Leibnitz worked on nuclear spectroscopy, electron-gamma-ray coincidence measurements, radioactive tracer
s, and energy conservation in Compton scattering
.
In the early years of World War II
, Maier-Leibnitz first served in the German air defense and then as a meteorologist at air bases in France. In 1942, he returned to continue his work with Bothe, who, since 1939, had been a principal in the German nuclear energy project
, also known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club).
After World War II, due to the ravages of war and the Allied occupation policies, Bothe’s Institute for Physics fell on hard times. Maier-Leibnitz, Kurt Starke
, and other younger colleagues of Bothe left for employment in North America. Maier-Leibnitz left in the spring of 1947. When his contract expired in the spring of 1948, he returned to again work for Bothe. Maier-Leibnitz continued to work on nuclear spectroscopy and radioactive tracers in biochemistry
and medicine. He also took up the study of positron annihilation in solids, which became a new tool for measuring the momentum distribution of bound electrons.
In 1952, upon the retirement of Walther Meissner, Maier-Leibnitz assumed the Lehrstuhl für Technische Physik (Chair for Technical Physics) and directorship of the Laboratorium für technische Physik (Laboratory for Technical Physics) at the Technische Hochschule München (in 1970 renamed the Technische Universität München
). This became the nucleus of the Maier-Leibnitz school for nuclear solid state physics. The far-sightedness of Maier-Leibnitz led to reorganization and expansion of physics at the Technische Hochschule München and the formation of the Physics Department in 1965. One his first major expansions was done with the appointment of Nikolaus Riehl
, who had returned to Germany in 1955, after having been taken to the Soviet Union
in 1945 to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project
. Riehl was an authority on the purification of uranium, and he greatly contributed to bringing about the construction of a new research tool at the Technische Hochschule München. Through the initiative and leadership of Maier-Leibnitz, the Forschungsreaktor München (FRM, Research Reactor Munich) was built in Garching bei München
; it was the first nuclear reactor built in Germany. This reactor, popularly called the Atomei (atomic egg), based on its characteristic shape, was built in 1956 and became operational in 1957. Rather than being used to study reactor physics and technology, the swimming-pool-type reactor was used as a neutron source, and it became a versatile tool for interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, it was the seed for the entire Garching research campus. A second reactor built nearby, Forschungsreaktor München II
(FRM II, Research Reactor Munich II), went critical for the first time four years after the death of Maier-Leibnitz; it was named the Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in his honor.
During 1956 and 1957, Maier-Leibnitz was a member of the Arbeitskreis Kernphysik (Nuclear Physics Working Group) of the Fachkommission II „Forschung und Nachwuchs“ (Commission II “Research and Growth”) of the Deutschen Atomkommission (DAtK, German Atomic Energy Commission). Other members of the Nuclear Physics Working Group in both 1956 and 1957 were: Werner Heisenberg
(chairman), Hans Kopfermann
(vice-chairman), Fritz Bopp, Walther Bothe
, Wolfgang Gentner
, Otto Haxel
, Willibald Jentschke
, Josef Mattauch
, Wolfgang Riezler, Wilhelm Walcher
and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
. Wolfgang Paul
was also a member of the group during 1957.
Maier-Leibnitz was also a member of the Arbeitskreis Kernreaktoren (Nuclear Reactor Working Group) of the DAtK, and it was considered to be the most active and influential board of the DAtK. Some of the other members of the group were Erich Bagge
, Wolfgang Finkelnburg
, and Karl Wirtz
. For the first decade of nuclear energy development in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), it was the center of decision making, and it had representative membership from German industry. Maier-Leibnitz was also the chairman of a special committee for designing the Deutsches Atomprogramm (German Nuclear Program). From this position, he became the architect of the first full-scale nuclear program of the FRG.
In 1961, became an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) of technical physics at the Technische Hochschule München. Also in 1961, Rudolf L. Mößbauer, a former student of Maier-Leibnitz at Technische Hochschule München, received the Nobel Prize in Physics
for his discovery of recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation in solids known as the Mößbauer Effect
, which led to numerous applications in solid state physics, chemistry, biophysics, medicine and archeology. Maier-Leibnitz, along with his colleagues Wilhelm Brenig, Nikolaus Riehl
and Wolfgang Wild, in a memorandum in 1962, proposed the establishment of a Physics Department at the Technische Hochschule München. This was used as bargaining tool to bring Mößbauer from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena
back to the Technische Hochschule München in 1964. The Physics Department was founded on 1 January 1965, replacing the three former independent institutes, but now with ten full professors, one of which was Maier-Leibnitz; the three institutes replaced were the Physikalische Institut, the Laboratorium für technische Physik, and the Institut für Theoretische Physik.
Through his experience and expertise in instrumental techniques, particularly neutron optics, Maier-Leibnitz was one of the first to realize that the neutron flux from the FRM was too low for some interesting experiments. Maier-Leibnitz was instrumental, along with Louis Néel, in bringing about the German-French project to construct a high-flux neutron source and found the Institut Laue-Langevin
in Grenoble
in 1967, named in honor of the physicist Max von Laue
and Paul Langevin
. The reactor had the first source of cold neutrons. From 1967 to 1972, Maier-Leibnitz was the first director of the Institut Laue-Langevin.
After the end of his term as director of the Institut Laue-Langevin, Maier-Leibnitz held other positions, including:
After 27 of service at the Technische Universität München
(formerly the Technische Hochschule München), Maier-Leibnitz achieved emeritus status 1979.
Maier-Leibnitz was a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher/Leopoldina, various academies of sciences and humanities (Heidelberg, Bavaria, Flanders, India, Sweden, Finland, France and Austria), of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
.
He was co-editor of several journals, among them Nukleonik
.
Since 1979, the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis
(Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize) has been annually given in his honor. The prize is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, German Ministry of Education and Research), and it is awarded by a selection committee appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(DFG, German Research Foundation) and the BMBF.
Maier-Liebnitz was a signatory of the manifesto of the Göttinger Achtzehn
(Göttingen Eighteen).
Maier-Liebnitz was interested in cooking as a hobby, and he was the author of the cookbook Kochbuch für Füchse.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
physicist. He made contributions to nuclear spectroscopy, coincidence measurement techniques, radioactive tracers for biochemistry and medicine, and neutron optics. He was an influential educator and an advisor to the Federal Republic of Germany on nuclear programs.
During World War II, Maier-Leibnitz worked at the Institute of Physics of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, in Heidelberg. After the war, he spent a year working in North America, after which he returned to the Institute of Physics. In 1952, he assumed the Chair for Technical Physics and directorship of the Laboratory for Technical Physics at the Technische Hochschule München. He became a leader in establishing and building centers which used nuclear reactors as neutron sources for research. The first was the Research Reactor Munich, which was the seed for the entire Garching research campus of the Technische Hochschule München. The second was the German-French project to construct a high-flux neutron source and found the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France; he was also its first director. His leadership also helped establish the Physics Department at the Technische Hochschule München. Maier-Leibnitz was the chairman of a special committee for designing the German Nuclear Program, and thus he was the architect of the first full-scale nuclear program of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was a signatory of the Göttingen Manifest.
In his honor, the German Research Foundation annually awards six scientists with the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis
Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis , in honor and memory of the German physicist Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung , and it is awarded by a selection committee appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the BMBF...
. The research reactor Forschungsreaktor München II
Forschungsreaktor München II
The Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz is the leading German research reactor. It serves as a neutron source, and is officially named Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in honor of the physicist Heinz Maier-Leibnitz who had conducted a highly successful research program...
is officially named Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz.
Education
Maier-Leibnitz studied physics at the Universität StuttgartUniversity of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. He received his doctorate in 1935, from the University of Göttingen, under the Nobel Laureate James Franck
James Franck
James Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
and Georg Joos
Georg Joos
Georg Jakob Christof Joos was a German theoretical physicist. He wrote Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, first published in 1932 and one of the most influential theoretical physics textbooks of the 20th Century.-Education:Joos began his higher education in 1912 at the Technische Hochschule...
– Franck had emigrated from Germany in 1933 and his successor was Joos. Maier-Leibnitz was in the field of atomic physics, and he discovered metastable, negative helium ions, which later had applications in particle accelerators.
Career
Shortly after receipt of his doctorate in 1935, Maier-Leibnitz became an assistant to Walther BotheWalther Bothe
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 with Max Born....
, Director of the Institut für Physik (Institute for Physics) of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung (KWImF, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research), in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
. [Note: After World War II, the KWImF was renamed the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, is a facility of the Max Planck Society for basic medical research. Since its foundation, six Nobel Prize laureates worked at the Institute: Otto Fritz Meyerhof , Richard Kuhn , Walther Bothe , André Michel Lwoff , Rudolf...
. In 1958, Bothe’s Institut für Physik was spun off and elevated to become the Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics).] Bothe had first met Maier-Leibnitz while on a recruiting trip to the University of Göttingen during which Robert Pohl
Robert Pohl
Robert Wichard Pohl was a German physicist.In 1938 Robert Pohl and Rudolf Hilsch, from the University of Göttingen, built the first functioning solid-state amplifier using salt as the semiconductor ....
and Georg Joos
Georg Joos
Georg Jakob Christof Joos was a German theoretical physicist. He wrote Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, first published in 1932 and one of the most influential theoretical physics textbooks of the 20th Century.-Education:Joos began his higher education in 1912 at the Technische Hochschule...
highly recommended Maier-Leibnitz for his intelligence and creativity. Maier-Leibnitz arrived at the Institute for Physics shortly after the arrival of Wolfgang Gentner
Wolfgang Gentner
Wolfgang Gentner was a German experimental nuclear physicist.Gentner received his doctorate in 1930 from the University of Frankfurt. From 1932 to 1935 he had a fellowship which allowed him to do postdoctoral research and study at Curie's Radium Institute at the University of Paris...
, who became recognized as Bothe’s second in command and took Maier-Leibnitz under his wing to become his mentor, critic, and a close friend. Maier-Leibnitz worked on nuclear spectroscopy, electron-gamma-ray coincidence measurements, radioactive tracer
Radioactive tracer
A radioactive tracer, also called a radioactive label, is a substance containing a radioisotope that is used to measure the speed of chemical processes and to track the movement of a substance through a natural system such as a cell or tissue...
s, and energy conservation in Compton scattering
Compton scattering
In physics, Compton scattering is a type of scattering that X-rays and gamma rays undergo in matter. The inelastic scattering of photons in matter results in a decrease in energy of an X-ray or gamma ray photon, called the Compton effect...
.
In the early years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Maier-Leibnitz first served in the German air defense and then as a meteorologist at air bases in France. In 1942, he returned to continue his work with Bothe, who, since 1939, had been a principal in the German nuclear energy project
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
, also known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club).
After World War II, due to the ravages of war and the Allied occupation policies, Bothe’s Institute for Physics fell on hard times. Maier-Leibnitz, Kurt Starke
Kurt Starke
Kurt Starke was a German radiochemist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club. He independently discovered the transuranic element neptunium. From 1947 to 1959, he taught and did research in Canada and the United States...
, and other younger colleagues of Bothe left for employment in North America. Maier-Leibnitz left in the spring of 1947. When his contract expired in the spring of 1948, he returned to again work for Bothe. Maier-Leibnitz continued to work on nuclear spectroscopy and radioactive tracers in biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
and medicine. He also took up the study of positron annihilation in solids, which became a new tool for measuring the momentum distribution of bound electrons.
In 1952, upon the retirement of Walther Meissner, Maier-Leibnitz assumed the Lehrstuhl für Technische Physik (Chair for Technical Physics) and directorship of the Laboratorium für technische Physik (Laboratory for Technical Physics) at the Technische Hochschule München (in 1970 renamed the Technische Universität München
Technical University of Munich
The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
). This became the nucleus of the Maier-Leibnitz school for nuclear solid state physics. The far-sightedness of Maier-Leibnitz led to reorganization and expansion of physics at the Technische Hochschule München and the formation of the Physics Department in 1965. One his first major expansions was done with the appointment of Nikolaus Riehl
Nikolaus Riehl
Nikolaus Riehl was a German industrial nuclear chemist. He was head of the scientific headquarters of Auergesellschaft. When the Russians entered Berlin near the end of World War II, he was invited to the Soviet Union, where he stayed for 10 years...
, who had returned to Germany in 1955, after having been taken to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1945 to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...
. Riehl was an authority on the purification of uranium, and he greatly contributed to bringing about the construction of a new research tool at the Technische Hochschule München. Through the initiative and leadership of Maier-Leibnitz, the Forschungsreaktor München (FRM, Research Reactor Munich) was built in Garching bei München
Garching bei München
Garching bei München or Garching is a city in Bavaria, Germany near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments. It became a city on 14 September 1990.-Location:...
; it was the first nuclear reactor built in Germany. This reactor, popularly called the Atomei (atomic egg), based on its characteristic shape, was built in 1956 and became operational in 1957. Rather than being used to study reactor physics and technology, the swimming-pool-type reactor was used as a neutron source, and it became a versatile tool for interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, it was the seed for the entire Garching research campus. A second reactor built nearby, Forschungsreaktor München II
Forschungsreaktor München II
The Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz is the leading German research reactor. It serves as a neutron source, and is officially named Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in honor of the physicist Heinz Maier-Leibnitz who had conducted a highly successful research program...
(FRM II, Research Reactor Munich II), went critical for the first time four years after the death of Maier-Leibnitz; it was named the Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in his honor.
During 1956 and 1957, Maier-Leibnitz was a member of the Arbeitskreis Kernphysik (Nuclear Physics Working Group) of the Fachkommission II „Forschung und Nachwuchs“ (Commission II “Research and Growth”) of the Deutschen Atomkommission (DAtK, German Atomic Energy Commission). Other members of the Nuclear Physics Working Group in both 1956 and 1957 were: Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
(chairman), Hans Kopfermann
Hans Kopfermann
Hans Kopfermann was a German atomic and nuclear physicist. He devoted his entire career to spectroscopic investigations, and he did pioneering work in measuring nuclear spin...
(vice-chairman), Fritz Bopp, Walther Bothe
Walther Bothe
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 with Max Born....
, Wolfgang Gentner
Wolfgang Gentner
Wolfgang Gentner was a German experimental nuclear physicist.Gentner received his doctorate in 1930 from the University of Frankfurt. From 1932 to 1935 he had a fellowship which allowed him to do postdoctoral research and study at Curie's Radium Institute at the University of Paris...
, Otto Haxel
Otto Haxel
Otto Haxel was a German nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project. After the war, he was on the staff of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen...
, Willibald Jentschke
Willibald Jentschke
Willibald Jentschke was an Austrian-German experimental nuclear physicist. During World War II, he made contributions to the German nuclear energy project. After World War II, he emigrated to the United States to work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, for the Air Force Materiel Command...
, Josef Mattauch
Josef Mattauch
Josef Mattauch was a German physicist known for his work in the investigation of the isotopic abundances by mass spectrometry. He developed the Mattauch isobar rule in 1934.-Mattauch-Herzog geometry mass spectrometer:...
, Wolfgang Riezler, Wilhelm Walcher
Wilhelm Walcher
Wilhelm Walcher was a German experimental physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he worked on mass spectrometers for isotope separation. After the war, he was director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Marburg...
and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the research team which performed nuclear research in Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership...
. Wolfgang Paul
Wolfgang Paul
Wolfgang Paul was a German physicist, who co-developed the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter which laid the foundation for what we now call an ion trap...
was also a member of the group during 1957.
Maier-Leibnitz was also a member of the Arbeitskreis Kernreaktoren (Nuclear Reactor Working Group) of the DAtK, and it was considered to be the most active and influential board of the DAtK. Some of the other members of the group were Erich Bagge
Erich Bagge
Erich Rudolf Bagge was a German scientist. Bagge, a student of Werner Heisenberg for his doctorate and Habilitation, was engaged in German Atomic Energy research and the German nuclear energy project during the Second World War. He worked as an Assistant at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Physik...
, Wolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Karl Ernst Finkelnburg was a German physicist who made contributions to spectroscopy, atomic physics, the structure of matter, and high-temperature arc discharges...
, and Karl Wirtz
Karl Wirtz
Karl Eugen Julius Wirtz was a German nuclear physicist. He was arrested by the allied British and American Armed Forces and incarcerated at Farm Hall for six months in 1945 under Operation Epsilon.-Education:...
. For the first decade of nuclear energy development in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), it was the center of decision making, and it had representative membership from German industry. Maier-Leibnitz was also the chairman of a special committee for designing the Deutsches Atomprogramm (German Nuclear Program). From this position, he became the architect of the first full-scale nuclear program of the FRG.
In 1961, became an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) of technical physics at the Technische Hochschule München. Also in 1961, Rudolf L. Mößbauer, a former student of Maier-Leibnitz at Technische Hochschule München, received the Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
for his discovery of recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation in solids known as the Mößbauer Effect
Mössbauer effect
The Mössbauer effect, or recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence, is a physical phenomenon discovered by Rudolf Mössbauer in 1958. It involves the resonant and recoil-free emission and absorption of γ radiation by atomic nuclei bound in a solid...
, which led to numerous applications in solid state physics, chemistry, biophysics, medicine and archeology. Maier-Leibnitz, along with his colleagues Wilhelm Brenig, Nikolaus Riehl
Nikolaus Riehl
Nikolaus Riehl was a German industrial nuclear chemist. He was head of the scientific headquarters of Auergesellschaft. When the Russians entered Berlin near the end of World War II, he was invited to the Soviet Union, where he stayed for 10 years...
and Wolfgang Wild, in a memorandum in 1962, proposed the establishment of a Physics Department at the Technische Hochschule München. This was used as bargaining tool to bring Mößbauer from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
back to the Technische Hochschule München in 1964. The Physics Department was founded on 1 January 1965, replacing the three former independent institutes, but now with ten full professors, one of which was Maier-Leibnitz; the three institutes replaced were the Physikalische Institut, the Laboratorium für technische Physik, and the Institut für Theoretische Physik.
Through his experience and expertise in instrumental techniques, particularly neutron optics, Maier-Leibnitz was one of the first to realize that the neutron flux from the FRM was too low for some interesting experiments. Maier-Leibnitz was instrumental, along with Louis Néel, in bringing about the German-French project to construct a high-flux neutron source and found the Institut Laue-Langevin
Institut Laue-Langevin
The Institut Laue–Langevin, or ILL, is an internationally-financed scientific facility, situated in Grenoble, France. It is one of the world centres for research using neutrons...
in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
in 1967, named in honor of the physicist Max von Laue
Max von Laue
Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals...
and Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin was a prominent French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the 6 February 1934 far right riots...
. The reactor had the first source of cold neutrons. From 1967 to 1972, Maier-Leibnitz was the first director of the Institut Laue-Langevin.
After the end of his term as director of the Institut Laue-Langevin, Maier-Leibnitz held other positions, including:
- 1972 – 1973: Member of the WissenschaftsratWissenschaftsratThe Wissenschaftsrat is an advisory body to the German Federal Government and the state governments. It makes recommendations on the development of science, research, and the universities, as well as on the competitiveness of German science...
(German Council of Science and Humanities)
- 1972 – 1975: President of the International Union of Pure and Applied PhysicsInternational Union of Pure and Applied PhysicsThe International Union of Pure and Applied Physics is an international non-governmental organization devoted to the advancement of physics...
- 1973 – 1974: Chairman of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte (Association of German Natural Scientists and Physicians)
- 1973 – 1983: Founding Council of the Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens Foundation
- 1974 – 1979: President of the Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftThe Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
(DFG, German Research Foundation)
After 27 of service at the Technische Universität München
Technical University of Munich
The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
(formerly the Technische Hochschule München), Maier-Leibnitz achieved emeritus status 1979.
Maier-Leibnitz was a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher/Leopoldina, various academies of sciences and humanities (Heidelberg, Bavaria, Flanders, India, Sweden, Finland, France and Austria), of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
.
He was co-editor of several journals, among them Nukleonik
Nukleonik
Nukleonik was a West German scientific journal covering nuclear physics and nuclear engineering. The journal was established in 1958, shortly after restrictions on nuclear research in West Germany were lifted by the 1955 Paris Agreements...
.
Since 1979, the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis
Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis , in honor and memory of the German physicist Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung , and it is awarded by a selection committee appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the BMBF...
(Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize) has been annually given in his honor. The prize is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, German Ministry of Education and Research), and it is awarded by a selection committee appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
(DFG, German Research Foundation) and the BMBF.
Maier-Liebnitz was a signatory of the manifesto of the Göttinger Achtzehn
Göttinger Manifest
The Göttingen Manifesto was a declaration of 18 leading nuclear scientists of West Germany against arming the West German army with tactical nuclear weapons in the 1950s, the early part of the Cold War, as the West German government under chancellor Adenauer had suggested.-Historical situation:In...
(Göttingen Eighteen).
Maier-Liebnitz was interested in cooking as a hobby, and he was the author of the cookbook Kochbuch für Füchse.
Honors
Maier-Leibnitz was awarded a number of honors, including:- 1965 – Honorary doctorate from the University of ViennaUniversity of ViennaThe University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
.
- 1966 – Honorary doctorate from the University of Grenoble.
- 1996 – Stern-Gerlach-MedailleStern-Gerlach-MedailleThe Stern–Gerlach Medal is the most prestigious German Award for experimental physicists, named after the scientists of the Stern–Gerlach experiment, Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach....
of the Deutsche Physikalische GesellschaftDeutsche Physikalische GesellschaftThe Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft is the world's largest organization of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,000, as of 2011...
.
- 1971 – Carus Medal of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher/Leopoldina.
- 1972 – BundesverdienstkreuzBundesverdienstkreuzThe Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
, Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1973 – Honorary doctorate from the University of ReadingUniversity of ReadingThe University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
.
- 1979–1984 – Member and later Chancellor of the Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaft und Künste (Order Pour le mérite for Scientists and Artists).
- 1980 – Freiherr vom Stein Prize.
- 1981 – Bayerischer Maximiliansorden (Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and ArtBavarian Maximilian Order for Science and ArtThe Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art was first established on 28 November 1853 by King Maximilian II. von Bayern. It is awarded to acknowledge and reward excellent and outstanding achievements in the field of science and art...
).
- 1984 – Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt (1984).
- 1985 – Wilhelm Exner Medal.
- 1986 – Otto Hahn Prize for Chemistry and Physics.
- 1988 – Lorenz Oken Medal.
- 1991 – Großes BundesverdienstkreuzBundesverdienstkreuzThe Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
mit Stern und Schulterband (German Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder-Band).
- 1995 – Medal of Merit of the State of Baden Wurttemberg.
- 2000 – Goldener Ehrenring der Technischen Universität München (Golden Ring of Honor of the Technical University of Munich).
Notable Articles by Maier-Leibnitz
- Heinz Maier-Leibnitz: Ausbeutemessungen beim Stoß langsamer Elektronen mit Edelgasatomen, Zeitschrift für PhysikZeitschrift für PhysikThe European Physical Journal is a joint publication of EDP Sciences, Springer Science+Business Media, and the Società Italiana di Fisica...
95, 499–523 (July, 1935).
- H. Maier-Leibnitz: Absolute Zählrohrmessungen an γ-Strahlen, Zeitschrift für Naturforschung 1, 243 (1946).
- H. Maier-Leibnitz, W. Bothe: Experimental Nuclear Physics, Science 126, 246–247 (9 August 1957).
- H. Maier-Leibnitz and T. Springer: Ein Interferometer für langsame Neutronen, Zeitschrift für Physik 167, 386–402 (August, 1962).
- H. Maier-Leibnitz and T. Springer: The use of neutron optical devices on beam-hole experiments, J. Nucl. Energy 17, 217–25 (1963).
- H. Maier-Leibnitz: Grundlagen für die Beurteilung von Intensitäts- und Genauigkeitsfragen bei Neutronenstreumessungen, NukleonikNukleonikNukleonik was a West German scientific journal covering nuclear physics and nuclear engineering. The journal was established in 1958, shortly after restrictions on nuclear research in West Germany were lifted by the 1955 Paris Agreements...
8, 61 (1966: Invention of the neutron backscatteringNeutron backscatteringNeutron backscattering is one of several inelastic neutron scattering techniques. Backscattering from monochromator and analyzer crystals is used to achieve an energy resolution in the order of μeV...
spectrometer).
- Friedrich HundFriedrich HundFriedrich Hermann Hund was a German physicist from Karlsruhe known for his work on atoms and molecules.Hund worked at the Universities of Rostock, Leipzig, Jena, Frankfurt am Main, and Göttingen....
, Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, and Erich Mollwo: Physics in Göttingen with FranckJames FranckJames Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
, BornMax BornMax Born was a German-born physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 30s...
and PohlPohlPohl is a surname which may refer to:* Augustinus Pohl-Dungen* Ernest Pohl , a Polish football player**Ernest Pohl Stadium, also called Górnik Zabrze Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium in Zabrze, Poland, named for Ernest Pohl...
, Eur. J. Phys. 9, 188-194 (1988).
Books by Maier-Leibnitz
- Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Streitbriefe über Kernenergie. Zwei Physiker über Wissenschaft, Fortschritt und Die Folgen (Piper, 1982).
- Peter Kafka and Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Streitbriefe uber Kernenergie (Piper, 1982).
- Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Lernschock Tschernobyl (Interfrom, 1986).
- Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Kochbuch für Füchse. Große Küche - schnell und gastlich [mit Hinweisen für d. Mikrowellenherd] (Piper, 1986).
- Peter Kafka and Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Kernenergie: Ja oder Nein? Eine Auseinandersetzung zwischen zwei Physikern (Piper, 1987).