Werner Hartmann (physicist)
Encyclopedia
Werner Hartmann was a German
physicist
who introduced microelectronics
into East Germany. He studied physics at the Technische Hochschule Berlin and worked at Siemens
before joining Fernseh GmbH. At the end of World War II
, he and his research staff were flown to the Soviet Union
to work on their atomic bomb project; he was assigned to Institute G. In 1955, he arrived in the German Democratic Republic
(GDR); in the same year, he founded and became the director of the VEB Vakutronik Dresden, later VEB RFT Meßelektronik Dresden. In 1956, he completed his Habilitation at the Technische Hochschule Dresden and also became a professor for Kernphysikalische Elektronik there. In 1961, he founded the Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden (AME). He was awarded the National Prize of GDR
in 1958. In 1974, he was removed from his positions, significantly demoted, and sent to work as a staff scientist at the VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg. Hartmann had been the object of security investigations by the Stasi
for some time; while he was investigated at length and repeatedly interrogated, the alleged charges were politically motivated and no trial ever took place. The Werner-Hartmann-Preis für Chipdesign is an industrial award given in Hartmann’s honor for achievement in the field of semiconductors.
in 1946). His professors there included Walter Schottky
and Gustav Hertz.
. At Siemens, he engaged in research on semiconductors. In 1937, he began work at Fernseh GmbH; his work there made him exempt from military service during World War II
.
scientists in 1945, one of them being his teacher and mentor, Gustav Hertz.
At the close of World War II, Russia had special search teams operating in Austria and Germany, especially in Berlin, to identify and “requisition” equipment, materiel, intellectual property, and personnel useful to the Soviet atomic bomb project
. The exploitation teams were under the Russian Alsos
, and they were headed by Lavrenij Beria’s
deputy, Colonel General A. P. Zavenyagin. These teams were composed of scientific staff members, in NKVD
officer’s uniforms, from the bomb project’s only laboratory, Laboratory No. 2, in Moscow. In mid-May 1945, the Russian nuclear physicists Georgy Flerov
and Lev Artsimovich
, in NKVD colonel’s uniforms, compelled Karl Zimmer
to take them to the location of Nikolaus Riehl
and his staff, who had evacuated their Auergesellschaft facilities and were west of Berlin, hoping to be in an area occupied by the American or British military forces; Riehl was the scientific director for Auergesellschaft
and involved in the German atomic energy project Uranverin
. Riehl was detained at the search team’s facility in Berlin-Friedrichshagen for a week. This sojourn in Berlin turned into 10 years in the Soviet Union! Riehl was sent there to head a group, at Plant No. 12 in Ehlektrostal’
(Электросталь), tasked with industrializing the production of reactor-grade uranium.
Manfred von Ardenne
, director of his private laboratory Forschungslaboratorium für Elektronenphysik, Gustav Hertz, Nobel laureate and director of Research Laboratory II at Siemens
, Peter Adolf Thiessen
, ordinarius professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin
and director of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie in Berlin-Dahlem
, and Max Volmer
, ordinarius professor and director of the Physical Chemistry Institute at the Technische Hochschule Berlin
, had made a pact. The pact was a pledge that whoever first made contact with the Russians would speak for the rest. The objectives of their pact were threefold:
Before the end of World War II
, Thiessen, a member of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, had Communist contacts. On 27 April 1945, Thiessen arrived at von Ardenne’s institute in an armored vehicle with a major of the Soviet Army, who was also a leading Soviet chemist.
All four of the pact members were taken to the Soviet Union along with colleagues from their institutes. Hertz was made head of Institute G, in Agudseri (Agudzery), about 10 km southeast of Sukhumi
and a suburb of Gul’rips (Gulrip’shi). Topics assigned to Gustav Hertz’s Institute G included:
Barwich had been deputy to Hertz at Siemens. Other members of Institute G were Werner Schütze, Karl-Franz Zühlke, and Werner Hartmann. Von Ardenne was made head of Institute A, in Sinop, a suburb of Sukhumi
. Volmer went to the Nauchno-Issledovatel’skij Institut-9 (NII-9, Scientific Research Institute No. 9), in Moscow; he was given a design bureau to work on the production of heavy water
. At Institute A, Thiessen became leader for developing techniques for manufacturing porous barriers for isotope separation.
The importance of certain scientists and their staffs to the Russian atomic bomb project was underscored by their being flown to the Soviet Union shortly after the fall of Berlin, announced by the Soviets on 2 May 1945. For example, Manfred von Ardenne
and his staff were flown to Moscow on 21 May and Nikolaus Riehl
and his staff were flown to Moscow on 9 July. Hartmann and his research staff were flown there on 13 June. Hartmann worked in Agudseri (Agudzery), at Institute G, directed by Gustav Hertz.
(GDR)), they were plied with high salaries, honors, and good positions as inducements to keep them in the GDR for maintenance of information security (counterintelligence) and both technological and economic development of the GDR.
Hartmann and his group were released from the Soviet Union in March 1955, and they went to the GDR. There, Hartmann demonstrated his scientific and managerial talents in a number of ways, including the founding of an institute which became a leading institute for microelectronics
in the entire Soviet Bloc. However, his apolitical nature was the start of a problem for him in Russia and it followed him into the GDR and magnified under the ruling Party there.
In 1955, Hartmann founded and became the director of the Volkseigener Betrieb
Vakutronik Dresden (VEB Dresden, Dresden Vakutronik People's Enterprise); later, it became the Volkseigener Betrieb Rundfunk-und-Fernmeldewesen Meßelektronik Dresden (VEB RFT Meßelektronik Dresden, Dresden Radio and Telecommunications Technology Measurements Electronics People's Enterprise).
In order to teach at a German university, one had to have a doctorate as well as complete Habilitation
; Hartmann completed the latter, in 1956, at the Technische Hochschule Dresden (after reorganization and renaming in 1961: Technische Universität Dresden
), where he then also became a professor of Kernphysikalische Elektronik. From 1956 and 1957, the Technische Hochschule Dresden had on the faculty other notable German scientists who had returned from working on the Soviet atomic bomb project, including Heinz Barwich
(Institute G), Heinz Pose
and Ernst Rexer
(Laboratory V), and Josef Schintlmeister
(Laboratory of Measuring Instruments.)
In 1958, Hartmann was awarded the Nationalpreis
.
In 1961, Hartmann founded the Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden (AME, Dresden Office for Microelectronics; 1969 renamed in AMD), which became a leading institute for microelectronics
in the entire Soviet Block. Hartmann’s AMD is not to be confused with AMD Saxony, which is a facility belonging to the American company Advanced Micro Devices
. In 1987, Hartmann's institute was recently renamed in ZMD
. ZMD produced the GDR's first 1-megabyte DRAM U61000
in 1988.
Hartmann had been under surveillance in the Soviet Union, since 1947, for “anti-Soviet statements and attitudes.” After his return to Germany, he was the subject of the intelligence investigation Tablette (Tablet). Hartmann’s reading of foreign scientific journals, as well as his management style, brought suspicion on him and accusations of introducing “managerial methods of capitalist countries.” From his apolitical nature, he disliked the way the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED, Socialist Unity Party of Germany – the ruling party in the GDR) characterized and split the German people into two categories, either “party members” or “non-members”. This resulted in allegations of “non-political conformity” and “disloyalty to the SED”, a direct result from the SED’s suspicious view of members of the industrial elite who were not members of the Party. Furthermore, it was even alleged that he spent too much time writing scientific articles! In 1966, he fought receipt of a Soviet security clearance, as he feared this would limit his travel in and scientific contact with the West. In 1974, Hartmann was an object of the security investigation Molekül (Molecule) by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS, Ministry for State Security) – the Stasi
.
In 1974, Hartmann was removed from his positions, significantly downgraded in position, salary (84% cut), and pension rights, and sent to work as a staff scientist at the VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg. He was repeatedly taken in for lengthy interrogations during the period 1974 to 1976, and he was threatened with trial for “economic crimes.” However, no trial was to take place.
Hartmann retired in 1977.
Hartmann died on 8 March 1988, due to complications after prostate surgery.
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
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...
who introduced microelectronics
Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...
into East Germany. He studied physics at the Technische Hochschule Berlin and worked at Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
before joining Fernseh GmbH. At the end 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...
, he and his research staff were flown 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....
to work on their atomic bomb project; he was assigned to Institute G. In 1955, he arrived in the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR); in the same year, he founded and became the director of the VEB Vakutronik Dresden, later VEB RFT Meßelektronik Dresden. In 1956, he completed his Habilitation at the Technische Hochschule Dresden and also became a professor for Kernphysikalische Elektronik there. In 1961, he founded the Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden (AME). He was awarded the National Prize of GDR
National Prize of East Germany
The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic was an award of the German Democratic Republic given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, and other meritorious achievement...
in 1958. In 1974, he was removed from his positions, significantly demoted, and sent to work as a staff scientist at the VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg. Hartmann had been the object of security investigations by the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
for some time; while he was investigated at length and repeatedly interrogated, the alleged charges were politically motivated and no trial ever took place. The Werner-Hartmann-Preis für Chipdesign is an industrial award given in Hartmann’s honor for achievement in the field of semiconductors.
Education
In 1930, Hartmann began studies in physics at the Technische Hochschule Berlin (reorganized and renamed the Technische Universität BerlinTechnical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
in 1946). His professors there included Walter Schottky
Walter H. Schottky
Walter Hermann Schottky was a German physicist who played a major early role in developing the theory of electron and ion emission phenomena, invented the screen-grid vacuum tube in 1915 and the pentode in 1919 while working at Siemens, and later made many significant contributions in the areas of...
and Gustav Hertz.
In Germany
In 1935, Hartmann became a research associate to Gustav Hertz, Nobel laureate and director of Research Laboratory II at SiemensSiemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
. At Siemens, he engaged in research on semiconductors. In 1937, he began work at Fernseh GmbH; his work there made him exempt from military service during 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...
.
In Russia
Hartmann’s 10 years in Russia are best understood in the context of the collective fate of five prominent BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
scientists in 1945, one of them being his teacher and mentor, Gustav Hertz.
At the close of World War II, Russia had special search teams operating in Austria and Germany, especially in Berlin, to identify and “requisition” equipment, materiel, intellectual property, and personnel useful to 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...
. The exploitation teams were under the Russian Alsos
Russian Alsos
The Russian Alsos was an operation which took place in early 1945 in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, and whose objectives were the exploitation of German atomic related facilities, intellectual materials, materiel resources, and scientific personnel for the benefit of the Soviet atomic bomb...
, and they were headed by Lavrenij Beria’s
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
deputy, Colonel General A. P. Zavenyagin. These teams were composed of scientific staff members, in NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
officer’s uniforms, from the bomb project’s only laboratory, Laboratory No. 2, in Moscow. In mid-May 1945, the Russian nuclear physicists Georgy Flerov
Georgy Flyorov
Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov was a prominent Soviet nuclear physicist.-Biography:Flyorov was born in Rostov-on-Don and attended the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov (March 2, 1913 – November 19, 1990) was a prominent Soviet nuclear physicist.-Biography:Flyorov was born...
and Lev Artsimovich
Lev Artsimovich
Lev Andreevich Artsimovich was a Soviet physicist, academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences , member of the Presidium of the Soviet Academy of Sciences , and Hero of Socialist Labor .- Academic research :Artsimovich worked on the...
, in NKVD colonel’s uniforms, compelled Karl Zimmer
Karl Zimmer
Karl Günter Zimmer was a German physicist and radiation biologist, known for his work on the effects of ionizing radiation on DNA. In 1935, he published the major work, Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur, with N. V...
to take them to the location 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...
and his staff, who had evacuated their Auergesellschaft facilities and were west of Berlin, hoping to be in an area occupied by the American or British military forces; Riehl was the scientific director for Auergesellschaft
Auergesellschaft
The industrial firm Auergesellschaft was founded in 1892 with headquarters in Berlin. Up to the end of World War II, Auergesellschaft had research activities in the areas of gas mantles, luminescence, rare earths, radioactivity, and uranium and thorium compounds. In 1934, the corporation was...
and involved in the German atomic energy project Uranverin
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...
. Riehl was detained at the search team’s facility in Berlin-Friedrichshagen for a week. This sojourn in Berlin turned into 10 years in the Soviet Union! Riehl was sent there to head a group, at Plant No. 12 in Ehlektrostal’
Elektrostal
Elektrostal , known as Zatishye until 1938, is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow. Population: 135,000 ; 123,000 ; 97,000 ; 43,000 . Town status was granted to it in 1938.-Industry:...
(Электросталь), tasked with industrializing the production of reactor-grade uranium.
Manfred von Ardenne
Manfred von Ardenne
Manfred von Ardenne was a German research and applied physicist and inventor. He took out approximately 600 patents in fields including electron microscopy, medical technology, nuclear technology, plasma physics, and radio and television technology...
, director of his private laboratory Forschungslaboratorium für Elektronenphysik, Gustav Hertz, Nobel laureate and director of Research Laboratory II at Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, Peter Adolf Thiessen
Peter Adolf Thiessen
Peter Adolf Thiessen was a German physical chemist. He voluntarily went to the Soviet Union at the close of World War II, and he received high Soviet decorations and the Stalin Prize for contributions to the Soviet atomic bomb project.-Education:Thiessen was born in Schweidnitz .From 1919 to...
, ordinarius professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
and director of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie in Berlin-Dahlem
Dahlem (Berlin)
Dahlem is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. Dahlem is one of the most affluent parts of the city and home to the main campus of the Free University of Berlin with the...
, and Max Volmer
Max Volmer
Max Volmer was a German physical chemist, who made important contributions in electrochemistry, in particular on electrode kinetics. He co-developed the Butler–Volmer equation. Volmer held the chair and directorship of the Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry Institute of the Technische...
, ordinarius professor and director of the Physical Chemistry Institute at the Technische Hochschule Berlin
Technical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
, had made a pact. The pact was a pledge that whoever first made contact with the Russians would speak for the rest. The objectives of their pact were threefold:
- Prevent plunder of their institutes,
- Continue their work with minimal interruption, and
- Protect themselves from prosecution for any political acts of the past.
Before the end 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...
, Thiessen, a member of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, had Communist contacts. On 27 April 1945, Thiessen arrived at von Ardenne’s institute in an armored vehicle with a major of the Soviet Army, who was also a leading Soviet chemist.
All four of the pact members were taken to the Soviet Union along with colleagues from their institutes. Hertz was made head of Institute G, in Agudseri (Agudzery), about 10 km southeast of Sukhumi
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
and a suburb of Gul’rips (Gulrip’shi). Topics assigned to Gustav Hertz’s Institute G included:
- Separation of isotopes by diffusion in a flow of inert gases, for which Gustav Hertz was the leader,
- Development of a condensation pump, for which Justus MühlenpfordtJustus MühlenpfordtJustus Mühlenpfordt was a German nuclear physicist. He received his doctorate from the Technische Hochschule Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig, in 1936. He then worked in Gustav Hertz’s laboratory at Siemens. In 1945, he was sent to Institute G, near Sukhumi and under the directorship of Hertz, to...
was the leader, - Design and build a mass spectrometer for determining the isotopic composition of uranium, for which Werner Schütze was the leader,
- Development of frameless (ceramic) diffusion partitions for filters, for which Reinhold Reichmann was the leader, and
- Development of a theory of stability and control of a diffusion cascade, for which Heinz BarwichHeinz BarwichHeinz Barwich was a German nuclear physicist. He was deputy director of the Siemens Research Laboratory II in Berlin. At the close of World War II, he went to the Soviet Union for ten years to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project, for which he received a Stalin Prize...
was the leader.
Barwich had been deputy to Hertz at Siemens. Other members of Institute G were Werner Schütze, Karl-Franz Zühlke, and Werner Hartmann. Von Ardenne was made head of Institute A, in Sinop, a suburb of Sukhumi
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
. Volmer went to the Nauchno-Issledovatel’skij Institut-9 (NII-9, Scientific Research Institute No. 9), in Moscow; he was given a design bureau to work on the production of heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
. At Institute A, Thiessen became leader for developing techniques for manufacturing porous barriers for isotope separation.
The importance of certain scientists and their staffs to the Russian atomic bomb project was underscored by their being flown to the Soviet Union shortly after the fall of Berlin, announced by the Soviets on 2 May 1945. For example, Manfred von Ardenne
Manfred von Ardenne
Manfred von Ardenne was a German research and applied physicist and inventor. He took out approximately 600 patents in fields including electron microscopy, medical technology, nuclear technology, plasma physics, and radio and television technology...
and his staff were flown to Moscow on 21 May and 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 his staff were flown to Moscow on 9 July. Hartmann and his research staff were flown there on 13 June. Hartmann worked in Agudseri (Agudzery), at Institute G, directed by Gustav Hertz.
In Germany again
In preparation for release from the Soviet Union, it was standard practice to put German scientists into quarantine for a few years if they worked on the Soviet atomic bomb project. Once these talented and capable scientists arrived in the German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR)), they were plied with high salaries, honors, and good positions as inducements to keep them in the GDR for maintenance of information security (counterintelligence) and both technological and economic development of the GDR.
Hartmann and his group were released from the Soviet Union in March 1955, and they went to the GDR. There, Hartmann demonstrated his scientific and managerial talents in a number of ways, including the founding of an institute which became a leading institute for microelectronics
Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...
in the entire Soviet Bloc. However, his apolitical nature was the start of a problem for him in Russia and it followed him into the GDR and magnified under the ruling Party there.
In 1955, Hartmann founded and became the director of the Volkseigener Betrieb
Volkseigener Betrieb
The Volkseigener Betrieb was the legal form of industrial enterprise in East Germany...
Vakutronik Dresden (VEB Dresden, Dresden Vakutronik People's Enterprise); later, it became the Volkseigener Betrieb Rundfunk-und-Fernmeldewesen Meßelektronik Dresden (VEB RFT Meßelektronik Dresden, Dresden Radio and Telecommunications Technology Measurements Electronics People's Enterprise).
In order to teach at a German university, one had to have a doctorate as well as complete 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...
; Hartmann completed the latter, in 1956, at the Technische Hochschule Dresden (after reorganization and renaming in 1961: Technische Universität Dresden
Dresden University of Technology
The Technische Universität Dresden is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony and one of the 10 largest universities in Germany with 36,066 students...
), where he then also became a professor of Kernphysikalische Elektronik. From 1956 and 1957, the Technische Hochschule Dresden had on the faculty other notable German scientists who had returned from working on the Soviet atomic bomb project, including Heinz Barwich
Heinz Barwich
Heinz Barwich was a German nuclear physicist. He was deputy director of the Siemens Research Laboratory II in Berlin. At the close of World War II, he went to the Soviet Union for ten years to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project, for which he received a Stalin Prize...
(Institute G), Heinz Pose
Heinz Pose
Rudolf Heinz Pose was a German nuclear physicist.He did pioneering work which contributed to the understanding nuclear energy levels. He worked on the German nuclear energy project Uranverein. After World War II, the Soviet Union sent him to establish and head Laboratory V in Obninsk...
and Ernst Rexer
Ernst Rexer
Ernst Rexer was a German nuclear physicist. He worked on the German nuclear energy program during World War II. After the war, he was sent to Laboratory V, in Obninsk, to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project...
(Laboratory V), and Josef Schintlmeister
Josef Schintlmeister
Josef Schintlmeister was an Austrian-German nuclear physicist and alpinist from Radstadt. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club. After World War II, he was sent Russia to work on the Soviet atomic bomb project. After he returned to...
(Laboratory of Measuring Instruments.)
In 1958, Hartmann was awarded the Nationalpreis
National Prize of East Germany
The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic was an award of the German Democratic Republic given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, and other meritorious achievement...
.
In 1961, Hartmann founded the Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden (AME, Dresden Office for Microelectronics; 1969 renamed in AMD), which became a leading institute for microelectronics
Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...
in the entire Soviet Block. Hartmann’s AMD is not to be confused with AMD Saxony, which is a facility belonging to the American company Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
. In 1987, Hartmann's institute was recently renamed in ZMD
ZMD
Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG is a fabless semiconductor manufacturer based in Dresden. In the 1980s, ZMD was regarded as the heart of the GDR-microelectronics research. ZMD was founded in 1961. In 1969 the company operated under the name Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden...
. ZMD produced the GDR's first 1-megabyte DRAM U61000
U61000
U61000 was the first 1-mbit DRAM microchip produced by the German Democratic Republic in 1989 based on CMOS technology.* DRAM organisation: 1024k x 1 Bit* access time: 100 ns - 120 ns...
in 1988.
Hartmann had been under surveillance in the Soviet Union, since 1947, for “anti-Soviet statements and attitudes.” After his return to Germany, he was the subject of the intelligence investigation Tablette (Tablet). Hartmann’s reading of foreign scientific journals, as well as his management style, brought suspicion on him and accusations of introducing “managerial methods of capitalist countries.” From his apolitical nature, he disliked the way the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED, Socialist Unity Party of Germany – the ruling party in the GDR) characterized and split the German people into two categories, either “party members” or “non-members”. This resulted in allegations of “non-political conformity” and “disloyalty to the SED”, a direct result from the SED’s suspicious view of members of the industrial elite who were not members of the Party. Furthermore, it was even alleged that he spent too much time writing scientific articles! In 1966, he fought receipt of a Soviet security clearance, as he feared this would limit his travel in and scientific contact with the West. In 1974, Hartmann was an object of the security investigation Molekül (Molecule) by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS, Ministry for State Security) – the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
.
In 1974, Hartmann was removed from his positions, significantly downgraded in position, salary (84% cut), and pension rights, and sent to work as a staff scientist at the VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg. He was repeatedly taken in for lengthy interrogations during the period 1974 to 1976, and he was threatened with trial for “economic crimes.” However, no trial was to take place.
Hartmann retired in 1977.
Hartmann died on 8 March 1988, due to complications after prostate surgery.
Honors
- National Prize – 1958
- The Werner-Hartmann-Preis für Chipdesign (Werner Hartmann Prize for Chip Design) is awarded by the Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden (ZMDZMDZentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG is a fabless semiconductor manufacturer based in Dresden. In the 1980s, ZMD was regarded as the heart of the GDR-microelectronics research. ZMD was founded in 1961. In 1969 the company operated under the name Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden...
, Dresden Center for Microelectronics)
External links
- Dieckmann, Christop "Vernichtung eines Unpolitischen", "Die Zeit" (2002) – PDF or (2002) – HTML
- Elektronik in Dresden. Eine Chronik.
- Habilitationsschrift - "Technische Hochschule Dresden", 1956
- Physik und Physiker - "Technische Hochschule Dresden"
- Hartmann - Professor Werner Hartmann - Triumph und Niederlage des Begründers der DDR-Mikroelektronik
- Sachsen LG - Dresdens Aufstieg Chipmetropole: Werner Hartmann im Porträt