Wolfgang Gentner
Encyclopedia
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. From 1936 to 1945, he was a staff scientist at the Institute of Physics at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, in Heidelberg. One of his areas of specialization was nuclear photoeffects. He was granted his Habilitation
from the University of Frankfurt in 1937. At the end of 1938 and early 1939, he visited the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley
; upon his return to Germany, he participated in the construction of a cyclotron
at Heidelberg. During World War II, he participated in the German nuclear energy project, also called the Uranium Club. After World War II, Gentner became a professor at the University of Freiberg.
In 1956, Gentner was appointed Director of the Synchrocyclotron Department at CERN. In 1958, he became director of the new Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
at Heidelberg. From 1967 to 1970, he was chairman of the Physicochemicl-technical Section of the Max Planck Society. From 1969 to 1971, he was President of the Science Policy Committee and President of the Council at CERN. From 1972, he was Vice-president of the Max Planck Society. From 1975, he was a member of the board of governors at the Weizmann Institute of Science
, Israel.
Gentner helped found a number of European scientific organizations during the 1960s.
, who was Director of the Institut für die physikalischen Grundlagen der Medizin (Institute for the Physical Fundamentals of Medicine), at the University of Frankfurt. His thesis was on the range of electrons in matter and their biological effects. In 1932, he was an auxiliary aid (Hilfsassistent) to Dessauer. From 1933 to 1935, he was a fellow of the Oswalt-Stiftung (Oswalt Foundation) of the University of Frankfurt and a fellow of the Carnegie Foundation
, whose assistance he used to study at the Radium Institute of the University of Paris
, which at that time was under the leadership of Marie Curie
.
Institut für Physik at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung (KWImF, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research; today, the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung
), in Heidelberg. One of his areas of specialization was in nuclear photoeffects (Kernphotoeffekt).
In 1932, Walther Bothe had succeeded Philipp Lenard
as Director of the Physikalische und Radiologische Institut (Physics and Radiological Institute) at the University of Heidelberg. When Adolf Hitler
became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, the concept of Deutsche Physik
took on more favor as well as fervor; deutsche Physik, was anti-Semitic and anti-theoretical physics, especially modern physics, including quantum mechanics
and both atomic and nuclear physics. As applied in the university environment, political factors took priority over the historically applied concept of scholarly ability, even though its two most prominent supporters were the Nobel Laureates in Physics
Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark
. Supporters of deutsche Physik launched vicious attacks against leading theoretical physicists. While Lenard was retired from the University of Heidelberg, he still had significant influence there. In 1934, Lenard had managed to get Bothe relieved of his directorship of the Institute of Physics at the University of Heidelberg, whereupon Bothe was able to become the Director of the Institut für Physik of the KWImF, replacing Karl W. Hauser, who had recently died. Ludolf von Krehl
, Director of th KWImF, and Max Planck
, President of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG, Kaiser Wilhelm Society, today, the Max-Planck Gesellschaft
), had offered the directorship to Bothe to ward off the possibility of his emigration. When it came time for Gentner to submit his Habilitationsschrift, Die Absorption, Streuung und Sekundärstrahlung harter Gamma-Strahlen (The absorption, scattering and secondary hard gamma rays), the relations between the KWImF and the University of Heidelberg were so strained that Habilitation was not possible there. So, Gentner completed the requirements at the University of Frankfurt, in 1937, and became a Privatdozent
(lecturer) there. This necessitated making trips by train between the facilities, which soon became a burden.
By the end of 1937, the rapid successes Bothe and Gentner had with the building and research uses of a Van de Graaf generator
had led them to consider building a cyclotron. By November, a report had already been sent to the President of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG, Kaiser Wilhelm Society; today, the Max Planck Society), and Bothe began securing funds from the Helmholtz-Gesellschaft (Helmholtz Society; today, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres), the Badischen Kultusministerium (Baden Ministry of Culture), I.G. Farben
, the KWG, and various other research oriented agencies. Initial promises led to ordering a magnet from Siemens
in September 1938, however, further financing then became problematic. In these times, Gentner continued his research on the nuclear photoeffect, with the aid of the van de Graaf generator, which had been upgraded to produce energies just under 1 MeV. When his line of research was completed with the 7Li (p, gamma) and the 11B (p, gamma) reactions, and on the nuclear isomer 80Br, Gentner devoted his full effort to the building of the planned cyclotron.
In order to facilitate the construction of the cyclotron, at the end of 1938 and into 1939, with the help of a fellowship from the Helmholtz-Gesellschaft, Gentner was sent to Radiation Laboratory of the University of California (today, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
) in Berkeley, California. As a result of the visit, Gentner formed a cooperative relationship with Emilio G. Segrè
and Donald Cooksey
.
The German nuclear energy project
, also known as the Uranverein, began in the spring of 1939 under the auspices of the Reichsforschungsrat
(RFR, Reich Research Council) of the Reichserziehungsministerium
(REM, Reich Ministry of Education). By 1 September, the Heereswaffenamt (HWA, Army Ordnance Office) squeezed out the RFR and took over the effort. Under the control of the HWA, the Uranverein had its first meeting on 16 September. The meeting was organized by Kurt Diebner
, advisor to the HWA, and held in Berlin. The invitees included Walther Bothe
, Siegfried Flügge
, Hans Geiger, Otto Hahn
, Paul Harteck
, Gerhard Hoffmann
, Josef Mattauch
, and Georg Stetter
. A second meeting was held soon thereafter and included Klaus Clusius
, Robert Döpel
, Werner Heisenberg
, and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
. With Bothe being one of the principles, Gentner was soon drawn into work for the Uranverein, along with other colleagues, such as Arnold Flammersfeld
and Peter Herbert Jensen
. Their research was published in the Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte
(Research Reports in Nuclear Physics); see below the section Internal Reports.
After the armistice between France and Germany in the summer of 1940, Bothe and Gentner received orders to inspect the cyclotron Frédéric Joliot-Curie
had built in Paris. While it had been built, it was not yet operational. In September 1940, Gentner received orders to form a group to put the cyclotron into operation. Hermann Dänzer from the University of Frankfurt participated in this effort. While in Paris, Gentner was able to free both Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Paul Langevin
, who had been arrested and detained. At the end of the winter of 1941/1942, the cyclotron was operational with a 7-MeV beam of deuterons. Uranium
and thorium
were irradiated with the beam, and the byproducts were sent to Otto Hahn at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Chemie (KWIC, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, today, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
), in Berlin. In mid-1942, Gentner's successor in Paris, was Wolfgang Riezler from Bonn
.
A next mission of the HWA was the completion of the Heidelberg cyclotron. It was during 1941 that Bothe had acquired all the necessary funding to complete construction. The magnet was delivered in March 1943, and the first beam of deuteron was emitted in December. The inauguration ceremony for the cyclotron was held on 2 June 1944.
In 1941, Gentner was authorized as a Dozent (lecturer) with a Lehrauftrag (teaching assignment) at the University of Heidelberg.
In 1946, Gentner became an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
, where he worked on nuclear and cosmic-ray physics. From 1947 to 1949, he was also Prorektor (Vice-Rector) of the University.
During 1956 and 1957, Gentner 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
, Otto Haxel
, Willibald Jentschke
, Heinz Maier-Liebnitz, Josef Mattauch
, Wolfgang Riezler, Wilhelm Walcher
, and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
. Wolfgang Paul
was also a member of the group during 1957.
In 1956, soon after the founding of CERN
, in Geneva
, Gentner was appointed Direktor der Abteilung Synchrozyklotron (Director of the Synchrocyclotron
Department) and Direktor der Forschung (Director of Research), positions which he held until October 1958. His department was responsible for the construction of their 600-MeV synchrocyclotron. Parallel to this, he had also been asked by the Stuttgarter Landesregierung (Stuttgart State Government) to be the first head of the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK, Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre, today the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe), whose construction had just been decided. Gentner declined so as to stay with more fundamental research, rather than applied. The synchrocyclotron at CERN delivered its first beam on 1 August 1957. From 1971 to 1974, he was chairman of the CERN board.
At the end of 1957, Gentner was in negotiations with Otto Hahn, President of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft (MPG, Max Planck Society, successor of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft
), and with the Senate of the MPG to establish a new institute under their auspices. Essentially, Walther Bothe's
Institut für Physik at the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung, in Heidelberg, was to be spun off and become a full fledged institute of the MPG. The decision to proceed was made in May 1958. Gentner was named the director of the Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics) on 1 October, and he also received the position as an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) at the University of Heidelberg. Bothe had not lived to see the final establishment of the MPIK, as he had died in February of that year.
In 1959, in collaboration with his Heidelberg colleagues Otto Haxel and J. Hans D. Jensen
, Gentner closed negotiations with the Heidelberger Gemeinderates (Heidelberg Local Council) to build a 6-Mev tandem-accelerator and a special building for the study of cosmic physics.
From 1967 to 1970, Gentner was Vorsitzender (chairman) of the physikalisch-chemisch-technischen Sektion (Physicochemical-technical Section) of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft. During this period, the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
) was founded in Heidelberg. At the end of his term as section chairman, Gentner had two medical operations, one for cataracts, which were attributed to neutron radiation exposure from his early years of experimental nuclear research.
At CERN, from 1969 to 1971, Gentner was Vorsitzender des Wissenschaftsausschusses (President of the Science Policy Committee) and from 1972 to 1974 Präsident des Rates (President of the Council).
From 1972, Gentner was Vice-president of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft. This was a particularly critical period for the MPG for purposes of consolidation, after 10 years of expansion.
From 1975, Gentner was a member of the board of governors at the Weizmann Institute of Science
, in Israel.
In the second half of the 1960s, Gentner helped scientific colleagues with establishing scientific institutions. With his knowledge of French science, Gentner helped Heinz Maier-Liebnitz with the establishment of the Institut Laue-Langevin
in Grenoble
. Gentner also helped Christoph Schmelzer establish the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschungs (GSI, Society for Heavy Ion Research), in Darmstadt
. In 1968, in Florence
, Gentner and Gilberto Bernardini founded of the European Physical Society
.
During his career, Gentner demonstrated his interest in Kosmochemie und Archäometrie (cosmochemistry
and archaeometry
), which are fields at the intersection of cultural and natural sciences.
(Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein
. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos
and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission
for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics
.
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
.
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. From 1936 to 1945, he was a staff scientist at the Institute of Physics at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, in Heidelberg. One of his areas of specialization was nuclear photoeffects. He was granted 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...
from the University of Frankfurt in 1937. At the end of 1938 and early 1939, he visited the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
; upon his return to Germany, he participated in the construction of a cyclotron
Cyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
at Heidelberg. During World War II, he participated in the German nuclear energy project, also called the Uranium Club. After World War II, Gentner became a professor at the University of Freiberg.
In 1956, Gentner was appointed Director of the Synchrocyclotron Department at CERN. In 1958, he became director of the new Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik is aresearch institute in Heidelberg, Germany.The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft , an independent, non-profit research organization. The Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics has been founded in 1958 under the...
at Heidelberg. From 1967 to 1970, he was chairman of the Physicochemicl-technical Section of the Max Planck Society. From 1969 to 1971, he was President of the Science Policy Committee and President of the Council at CERN. From 1972, he was Vice-president of the Max Planck Society. From 1975, he was a member of the board of governors at the Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....
, Israel.
Gentner helped found a number of European scientific organizations during the 1960s.
Education
From 1925 to 1930, Gentner studied at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. While in his first semester at Erlangen, his father died, so he returned to Frankfurt to help care for his mother and continued his education at Frankfurt. He received his doctorate in 1930 under Friedrich DessauerFriedrich Dessauer
Friedrich Dessauer was a physicist, a philosopher, a socially engaged entrepreneur and a journalist.Friedrich Dessauer was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany. As a young man he was fascinated by new discoveries in the natural sciences. He was particularly interested in the X-rays discovered by...
, who was Director of the Institut für die physikalischen Grundlagen der Medizin (Institute for the Physical Fundamentals of Medicine), at the University of Frankfurt. His thesis was on the range of electrons in matter and their biological effects. In 1932, he was an auxiliary aid (Hilfsassistent) to Dessauer. From 1933 to 1935, he was a fellow of the Oswalt-Stiftung (Oswalt Foundation) of the University of Frankfurt and a fellow of the Carnegie Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
, whose assistance he used to study at the Radium Institute of the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, which at that time was under the leadership of Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
.
Career
From 1936 to 1945, Gentner was a staff assistant at Walther Bothe'sWalther Bothe
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 with Max Born....
Institut für Physik at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung (KWImF, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research; today, 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 Heidelberg. One of his areas of specialization was in nuclear photoeffects (Kernphotoeffekt).
In 1932, Walther Bothe had succeeded Philipp Lenard
Philipp Lenard
Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard , known in Hungarian as Lénárd Fülöp Eduárd Antal, was a Hungarian - German physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1905 for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties...
as Director of the Physikalische und Radiologische Institut (Physics and Radiological Institute) at the University of Heidelberg. When Adolf 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...
became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, the concept of Deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik or Aryan Physics was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s against the work of Albert Einstein, labeled "Jewish Physics"...
took on more favor as well as fervor; deutsche Physik, was anti-Semitic and anti-theoretical physics, especially modern physics, including quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
and both atomic and nuclear physics. As applied in the university environment, political factors took priority over the historically applied concept of scholarly ability, even though its two most prominent supporters were the Nobel Laureates 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...
Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark
Johannes Stark
Johannes Stark was a German physicist, and Physics Nobel Prize laureate who was closely involved with the Deutsche Physik movement under the Nazi regime.-Early years:...
. Supporters of deutsche Physik launched vicious attacks against leading theoretical physicists. While Lenard was retired from the University of Heidelberg, he still had significant influence there. In 1934, Lenard had managed to get Bothe relieved of his directorship of the Institute of Physics at the University of Heidelberg, whereupon Bothe was able to become the Director of the Institut für Physik of the KWImF, replacing Karl W. Hauser, who had recently died. Ludolf von Krehl
Ludolf von Krehl
Albrecht Ludolf von Krehl was a German internist and physiologist who was a native of Leipzig. He was the son of Orientalist Christoph Krehl...
, Director of th KWImF, and Max Planck
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS, was a German physicist who actualized the quantum physics, initiating a revolution in natural science and philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of the quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.-Life and career:Planck came...
, President of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG, Kaiser Wilhelm Society, today, the Max-Planck Gesellschaft
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes publicly funded by the federal and the 16 state governments of Germany....
), had offered the directorship to Bothe to ward off the possibility of his emigration. When it came time for Gentner to submit his Habilitationsschrift, Die Absorption, Streuung und Sekundärstrahlung harter Gamma-Strahlen (The absorption, scattering and secondary hard gamma rays), the relations between the KWImF and the University of Heidelberg were so strained that Habilitation was not possible there. So, Gentner completed the requirements at the University of Frankfurt, in 1937, and became a Privatdozent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
(lecturer) there. This necessitated making trips by train between the facilities, which soon became a burden.
By the end of 1937, the rapid successes Bothe and Gentner had with the building and research uses of a Van de Graaf generator
Van de Graaf
van de Graaf is a surname, and may refer to:*J. A. van de Graaf, see Canons of page construction*Robert J. Van de Graaff , American physicist*Volkert van der Graaf , assassin of Dutch politician Pim FortuynVan de Graaf may also refer to:...
had led them to consider building a cyclotron. By November, a report had already been sent to the President of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG, Kaiser Wilhelm Society; today, the Max Planck Society), and Bothe began securing funds from the Helmholtz-Gesellschaft (Helmholtz Society; today, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres), the Badischen Kultusministerium (Baden Ministry of Culture), I.G. Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
, the KWG, and various other research oriented agencies. Initial promises led to ordering a magnet from Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
in September 1938, however, further financing then became problematic. In these times, Gentner continued his research on the nuclear photoeffect, with the aid of the van de Graaf generator, which had been upgraded to produce energies just under 1 MeV. When his line of research was completed with the 7Li (p, gamma) and the 11B (p, gamma) reactions, and on the nuclear isomer 80Br, Gentner devoted his full effort to the building of the planned cyclotron.
In order to facilitate the construction of the cyclotron, at the end of 1938 and into 1939, with the help of a fellowship from the Helmholtz-Gesellschaft, Gentner was sent to Radiation Laboratory of the University of California (today, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus...
) in Berkeley, California. As a result of the visit, Gentner formed a cooperative relationship with Emilio G. Segrè
Emilio G. Segrè
Emilio Gino Segrè was an Italian-born, naturalized American, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics, who with Owen Chamberlain, discovered antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle.-Biography:...
and Donald Cooksey
Donald Cooksey
Donald Cooksey , was a son of George Cooksey from Birmingham, England and Linda Dows from New York.After High School at the Thacher School in California, Donald Cooksey followed his brother Charlton Cooksey and attended Yale and where he too became a physicist specializing in designing and...
.
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, began in the spring of 1939 under the auspices of the Reichsforschungsrat
Reichsforschungsrat
The Reichsforschungsrat was created in Germany in 1937 under the Education Ministry for the purpose of centralized planning of all basic and applied research, with the exception of aeronautical research...
(RFR, Reich Research Council) of the Reichserziehungsministerium
Reichserziehungsministerium
The Reichserziehungsministerium was officially known as the Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung .-Background:...
(REM, Reich Ministry of Education). By 1 September, the Heereswaffenamt (HWA, Army Ordnance Office) squeezed out the RFR and took over the effort. Under the control of the HWA, the Uranverein had its first meeting on 16 September. The meeting was organized by Kurt Diebner
Kurt Diebner
Kurt Diebner was a German nuclear physicist who is well known for directing and administrating the German nuclear energy project, a secretive program aiming to built weapon of mass destruction for the Nazi Germany during the course of World War II...
, advisor to the HWA, and held in Berlin. The invitees included 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....
, Siegfried Flügge
Siegfried Flügge
Siegfried Flügge was a German theoretical physicist and made contributions to nuclear physics. He worked at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Chemie and worked in the German Uranverein...
, Hans Geiger, Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
, Paul Harteck
Paul Harteck
Paul Karl Maria Harteck was a German physical chemist. 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:Harteck studied chemistry at the University of Vienna and the Humboldt University of Berlin...
, Gerhard Hoffmann
Gerhard Hoffmann
Gerhard Hoffmann was a German nuclear physicist. During World War II, he contributed to the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club.-Education:...
, 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:...
, and Georg Stetter
Georg Stetter
Georg Stetter was an Austrian-German nuclear physicist. Stetter was Director of the Second Physics Institute of the University of Vienna. He was a principal member of the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club. In the latter years of World War II, he was also the Director...
. A second meeting was held soon thereafter and included Klaus Clusius
Klaus Clusius
Klaus Clusius was a German physical chemist from Breslau , Silesia. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he worked on isotope separation techniques and heavy water production...
, Robert Döpel
Robert Döpel
Georg Robert Döpel was a German experimental nuclear physicist. He was a participant in a group known as the “first Uranverein,” which was spawned by a meeting conducted by the Reichserziehungsministerium, in April 1939, to discuss the potential of a sustained nuclear reaction...
, 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...
, 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...
. With Bothe being one of the principles, Gentner was soon drawn into work for the Uranverein, along with other colleagues, such as Arnold Flammersfeld
Arnold Flammersfeld
Arnold Rudolf Karl Flammersfeld was a German nuclear physicist who worked on the German nuclear energy project during World War II...
and Peter Herbert Jensen
Peter Herbert Jensen
Peter Herbert Jensen was a German experimental nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranverein...
. Their research was published in the Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte
Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte
Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte was an internal publication of the German Uranverein, which was initiated under the Heereswaffenamt in 1939; in 1942, supervision of the Uranverein was turned over to the Reichsforschungsrat under the Reichserziehungsministerium...
(Research Reports in Nuclear Physics); see below the section Internal Reports.
After the armistice between France and Germany in the summer of 1940, Bothe and Gentner received orders to inspect the cyclotron Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie , born Jean Frédéric Joliot, was a French physicist and Nobel laureate.-Early years:...
had built in Paris. While it had been built, it was not yet operational. In September 1940, Gentner received orders to form a group to put the cyclotron into operation. Hermann Dänzer from the University of Frankfurt participated in this effort. While in Paris, Gentner was able to free both Frédéric Joliot-Curie 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...
, who had been arrested and detained. At the end of the winter of 1941/1942, the cyclotron was operational with a 7-MeV beam of deuterons. Uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
and thorium
Thorium
Thorium is a natural radioactive chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. It was discovered in 1828 and named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder....
were irradiated with the beam, and the byproducts were sent to Otto Hahn at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Chemie (KWIC, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, today, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry is a scientific research institute under the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.Basic research in chemistry and related subjects is carried out at the four departments of the institute. The departments are independently led by their Directors.-The departments:The...
), in Berlin. In mid-1942, Gentner's successor in Paris, was Wolfgang Riezler from Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
.
A next mission of the HWA was the completion of the Heidelberg cyclotron. It was during 1941 that Bothe had acquired all the necessary funding to complete construction. The magnet was delivered in March 1943, and the first beam of deuteron was emitted in December. The inauguration ceremony for the cyclotron was held on 2 June 1944.
In 1941, Gentner was authorized as a Dozent (lecturer) with a Lehrauftrag (teaching assignment) at the University of Heidelberg.
In 1946, Gentner became an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
, where he worked on nuclear and cosmic-ray physics. From 1947 to 1949, he was also Prorektor (Vice-Rector) of the University.
During 1956 and 1957, Gentner 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....
, 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...
, Heinz Maier-Liebnitz, 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.
In 1956, soon after the founding of CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
, in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Gentner was appointed Direktor der Abteilung Synchrozyklotron (Director of the Synchrocyclotron
Synchrocyclotron
A synchrocyclotron is a cyclotron in which the frequency of the driving RF electric field is varied to compensate for relativistic effects as the particles' velocity begins to approach the speed of light...
Department) and Direktor der Forschung (Director of Research), positions which he held until October 1958. His department was responsible for the construction of their 600-MeV synchrocyclotron. Parallel to this, he had also been asked by the Stuttgarter Landesregierung (Stuttgart State Government) to be the first head of the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK, Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre, today the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe), whose construction had just been decided. Gentner declined so as to stay with more fundamental research, rather than applied. The synchrocyclotron at CERN delivered its first beam on 1 August 1957. From 1971 to 1974, he was chairman of the CERN board.
At the end of 1957, Gentner was in negotiations with Otto Hahn, President of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft (MPG, Max Planck Society, successor of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science was a German scientific institution established in 1911. It was implicated in Nazi science, and after the Second World War was wound up and its functions replaced by the Max Planck Society...
), and with the Senate of the MPG to establish a new institute under their auspices. Essentially, Walther Bothe's
Walther Bothe
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 with Max Born....
Institut für Physik at the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung, in Heidelberg, was to be spun off and become a full fledged institute of the MPG. The decision to proceed was made in May 1958. Gentner was named the director of the Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics) on 1 October, and he also received the position as an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) at the University of Heidelberg. Bothe had not lived to see the final establishment of the MPIK, as he had died in February of that year.
In 1959, in collaboration with his Heidelberg colleagues Otto Haxel and J. Hans D. Jensen
J. Hans D. Jensen
Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen was a German nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranium Club, in which he made contributions to the separation of uranium isotopes. After the war Jensen was a professor at the University of Heidelberg...
, Gentner closed negotiations with the Heidelberger Gemeinderates (Heidelberg Local Council) to build a 6-Mev tandem-accelerator and a special building for the study of cosmic physics.
From 1967 to 1970, Gentner was Vorsitzender (chairman) of the physikalisch-chemisch-technischen Sektion (Physicochemical-technical Section) of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft. During this period, the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie is a research institute of the Max Planck Society. It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Koenigstuhl, adjacent to the historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl astronomical observatory.The institute was founded in...
) was founded in Heidelberg. At the end of his term as section chairman, Gentner had two medical operations, one for cataracts, which were attributed to neutron radiation exposure from his early years of experimental nuclear research.
At CERN, from 1969 to 1971, Gentner was Vorsitzender des Wissenschaftsausschusses (President of the Science Policy Committee) and from 1972 to 1974 Präsident des Rates (President of the Council).
From 1972, Gentner was Vice-president of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft. This was a particularly critical period for the MPG for purposes of consolidation, after 10 years of expansion.
From 1975, Gentner was a member of the board of governors at the Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....
, in Israel.
In the second half of the 1960s, Gentner helped scientific colleagues with establishing scientific institutions. With his knowledge of French science, Gentner helped Heinz Maier-Liebnitz with the establishment of 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...
. Gentner also helped Christoph Schmelzer establish the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschungs (GSI, Society for Heavy Ion Research), in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
. In 1968, in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Gentner and Gilberto Bernardini founded of the European Physical Society
European Physical Society
The European Physical Society is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical societies of 41 countries, and some 3200 individual members. The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft,...
.
During his career, Gentner demonstrated his interest in Kosmochemie und Archäometrie (cosmochemistry
Cosmochemistry
Cosmochemistry or chemical cosmology is the study of the chemical composition of matter in the universe and the processes that led to those compositions. This is done primarily through the study of the chemical composition of meteorites and other physical samples...
and archaeometry
Archaeological science
Archaeological science, also known as archaeometry, consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials. Archaeometry is now considered its own scientific field. The UK's Natural and Environmental Research Council provides funding for archaeometry...
), which are fields at the intersection of cultural and natural sciences.
Honors
Gentner was a member of many scientific academies and was awarded a number of honors:- Cothenius-Medaille in Gold [1977] – Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina
- Ernst-Helmut-Vits-Preis
- Großen Verdienstkreuz mit Stern der Bundesrepublik DeutschlandBundesverdienstkreuzThe 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...
(Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany)
- Officier de la Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
[1965] (Officer of the Legion of Honor, France)
- Ordens Pour le merite für Wissenschaft und KünstePour le MériteThe Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
- Otto Hahn-Preis der Stadt Frankfurt (Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt)
- Wolfgang Gentner Chair established at the Weizmann Institute of ScienceWeizmann Institute of ScienceThe Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....
, in Israel.
Internal Reports
The following reports were published in Kernphysikalische ForschungsberichteKernphysikalische Forschungsberichte
Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte was an internal publication of the German Uranverein, which was initiated under the Heereswaffenamt in 1939; in 1942, supervision of the Uranverein was turned over to the Reichsforschungsrat under the Reichserziehungsministerium...
(Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein
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...
. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos
Operation Alsos
Operation Alsos was an effort at the end of World War II by the Allies , branched off from the Manhattan Project, to investigate the German nuclear energy project, seize German nuclear resources, materials and personnel to further American research and to prevent their capture by the Soviets, and...
and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics
American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics promotes science, the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies...
.
- Walther BotheWalther BotheWalther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 with Max Born....
and Wolfgang Gentner Die Energie der Spaltungsneutronen aus Uran G-17 (9 May 1940)
- Arnold FlammersfeldArnold FlammersfeldArnold Rudolf Karl Flammersfeld was a German nuclear physicist who worked on the German nuclear energy project during World War II...
, Peter JensenPeter Herbert JensenPeter Herbert Jensen was a German experimental nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranverein...
, Wolfgang Gentner Die Energietönung der Uranspaltung G-25 (21 May 1940)
- Arnold Flammersfeld, Peter Jensen, Wolfgang Gentner Die Aufteilungsverhältnisse und Energietönung bei der Uranspaltung G-26 (24 September 1940)
Selected literature
- W. Bothe and W. Gentner Herstellung neuer Isotope durch Kernphotoeffekt, Die NaturwissenschaftenDie NaturwissenschaftenNaturwissenschaften is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer on behalf of several learned societies.- History :...
Volume 25, Issue 8, 126-126 (1937). Received 9 February 1937. Institutional affiliation: Institut für Physik at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung.
- W. Gentner Kernphotoeffekt unter gleichzeitiger Aussendung von zwei Neutronen, Die Naturwissenschaften Volume 26, Number 7, 109-109 (1938). Received 8 February 1938. Institutional affiliation: Institut für Physik at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung.
- Woflgang Gentner Mitteilungen aus der Kernphysik, Die NaturwissenschaftenDie NaturwissenschaftenNaturwissenschaften is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer on behalf of several learned societies.- History :...
Volume 28, Number 25, 394-396 (1940). Institutional citation: Heidelberg.