Karl Wilhelm Meissner was a German-American physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 specializing in hyperfine spectroscopy

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...

. He spent the greater part of his career in the United States at Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

, in West Lafayette, Indiana

West Lafayette, Indiana

As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific...

.

Education

After Meissner’s abitur

Abitur

Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...

 at the Humanistischen Gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

, in 1910, he began the study of physics and mathematics at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...

. After three terms, he went to the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , commonly known as the University of Munich or LMU, is a university in Munich, Germany...

 as a student of the experimentalist Wilhelm Röntgen and the theoretician Arnold Sommerfeld

Arnold Sommerfeld

Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and groomed a large number of students for the new era of theoretical physics...

. After one year at Munich, he returned to Tübingen to be able to study spectroscopy

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...

 with Friedrich Paschen

Friedrich Paschen

Louis Karl Heinrich Friedrich Paschen , was a German physicist, known for his work on electrical discharges. He is also known for the Paschen series, a series of hydrogen spectral lines in the infrared region that he first observed in 1908...

. While still a student in 1914, Meissner was able to prove the existence of oxygen lines in the solar

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

 spectrum. He was awarded his doctorate in 1915, on a thesis with the title Interferometrische Wellenlängenbestimmung im infraroten Spektralbereich. In 1916 he became an assistant to Edgar Meyer at the University of Zurich

University of Zurich

The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....

, under whom he completed his Habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

, in 1918, with the Habilitationsschrift title Untersuchungen des Neonspektrums. The following year, he married the Polish physicist Doctor Janka Kohn.

Career

In the summer of 1924, Meissner became a First Assistant at the Physics Institute of the University of Zurich

University of Zurich

The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....

. Here he studied the spectra of indium, gallium, neon, argon, and caesium, the arc spectrum of lead (spectrum of neutral or non-ionized lead), the Stark effect

Stark effect

The Stark effect is the shifting and splitting of spectral lines of atoms and molecules due to presence of an external static electric field. The amount of splitting and or shifting is called the Stark splitting or Stark shift. In general one distinguishes first- and second-order Stark effects...

 of neon, and general problems of detecting radiation.

The change from Zurich to the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main

The Goethe University Frankfurt was founded in 1914 as a Citizens' University, which means that, while it was a State university of Prussia, it had been founded and financed by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt am Main, a unique feature in German university history...

 occurred in 1925. Meissner was appointed extraordinarius professor of physics there, when Walter Gerlach

Walter Gerlach

Walter Gerlach was a German physicist who co-discovered spin quantization in a magnetic field, the Stern-Gerlach effect.-Education:Gerlach was born in Biebrich, Hessen-Nassau....

 left for the University of Tübingen. Shortly thereafter, he received calls to the Donro Institute at Davos and the Physikalisch Technische Rechsanstalt in Berlin; he declined both. After the retirement of Martin Brendel and with the support of Richard Wachsmuth, Meissner was appointed ordinarius professor of astronomy and director of the University’s observatory. Upon retirement of Wachsmuth, Meissner was appointed as his successor to the chair for astronomy and director of the astronomy institute in 1932.

Spectral lines are broadened due to random movements and collisions of the emitting atoms; this limits resolution. To reduce these broadening mechanism, Meissner, with K. F. Luft and independently of R. Minkowski and H. Bruck, in 1935, developed the technique of observing particle beams perpendicular to their direction of flow. With this technique, Meissner could investigate the hyperfine structure of spectra, which are due to the magnetic moment of the atomic nuclei. This is an area of experimental research which would occupy Meissner for many years.

Meissner’s wife, Janka, was Jewish. Due to persecution of the Jews by the Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 regime, circumstances caused Meissner stepped down as director in June 1937. While he continued his teaching responsibilities, he was forced to resign in August of that year. Unable to find an industry position, Meissner traveled to the United States in the spring of 1938 to lecture at 10 universities. Circumstances in Germany, including Nazi regulation of travel, did not allow him to take Janka with him. From three offers in the United States, Meissner selected a position as assistant professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...

 in November of that year. In early 1939, Janka died from cancer.

From 1941, to the end of his career, Meissner was at Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

, first as a visiting professor and then, after naturalization, a full professor and director of the spectroscopy laboratory. In 1942, he married Hanna Hellinger, the sister of a former mathematician colleague at Frankfurt am Main, Ernst Hellinger, who had emigrated from Germany in February 1941. Hanna taught from 1944 to 1965 as professor of sociology and social science at Purdue.

Outside of physics, Meissner’s interests also included history, literature, and languages. He spoke German, English, French, and Italian, and was able to also read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

On 9 April 1959, Meissner sailed from New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 for Europe to visit his sister and niece, visit the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau of Weights and Measures

International Bureau of Weights and Measures

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures , is an international standards organisation, one of three such organisations established to maintain the International System of Units under the terms of the Metre Convention...

), teach in the summer semester at the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

, and attend an interferometry

Interferometry

Interferometry refers to a family of techniques in which electromagnetic waves are superimposed in order to extract information about the waves. An instrument used to interfere waves is called an interferometer. Interferometry is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy,...

 conference in London. During the voyage, he died on 13 April. His wife, Hanna, died thirty years later on 8 February 1989, in Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...

.

Selected Literature

• K. W. Meissner and K. F. Luft, Ann. d. Physik 28 667 (1937)

• Karl Wilhlem Meissner Application of Atomic Beams in Spectroscopy, Rev. Mod. Phys. 14 68 - 78 (1942). Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.

• K. W. Meissner, L. G. Mundie, and P. H. Stelson Structure of the 2D Terms of the Arc Spectrum of Lithium, Phys. Rev. 74 (8) 932 - 938 (1948). Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. Received 23 June 1948. When the article was published, Mundie was at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, White Oak, Maryland.

• G. V. Deverall, K. W. Meissner, and G. J. Zissis Hyperfine Structures of the Resonance Lines of Indium (In115), Phys. Rev. 91 (2) 297 - 299 (1953). Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Received 3 April 1953.

• K. W. Meissner and V. Kaufman, Calcium atomic beam source and interference beyond two-meter retardation, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 49 942- (1959)