Fritz Houtermans 230140 213468440 2008-05-19T14:05:32Z Bfiene 1934774 Added a category. '''Friedrich Georg "Fritz" Houtermans''' ([[January 22]], [[1903]] &ndash; [[March 1]], [[1966]]) was an [[atomic physics | atomic]] and [[nuclear physics | nuclear]] [[physicist]] born in Zoppot (today [[Sopot]], [[Poland]]) near Danzig (today [[Gdańsk]], [[Poland]]). Houtermans made important contributions to [[geochemistry]] and [[cosmochemistry]]. ==Education== Houtermans began his studies at the [[Georg-August University of Göttingen]] in [[1921]], and he received his doctorate<ref> As cited in [http://www.nernst.de/tammann/riefenstahl.htm Charlotte Riefenstahl] – Nernst Memorial Website: Houtermans, Fritz. Thesis title: ''Über die Bandenfluoreszenz und die lichtelektrische Ionisierung des Quecksilberdampfes''. Georg-August University of Göttingen, 1927, under [[James Franck]].</ref> under [[James Franck]] in [[1927]], the same year [[Robert Oppenheimer]] received his doctorate under [[Max Born]]. He completed his [[Habilitation]] under [[Gustav Hertz]] at the [[Technical University of Berlin | Technische Hochschule Berlin]], in [[1932]]. Hertz and Franck were Nobel Prize laureates; they shared the [[1925]] [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].<ref> Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Houtermans.</ref> <ref> [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Houtermans.html Houtermans Biography] – Wolfram</ref> <ref> Jungk, 1958, 48.</ref> While at Göttingen, Houtermans met [[Enrico Fermi]], [[George Gamow]], [[Werner Heisenberg]], [[Wolfgang Pauli]], and [[Victor Frederick Weisskopf]]. Houtermans and Gamow did pioneering work on [[quantum tunneling]] in [[1928]]. Houtermans, in [[1929]], with [[Robert d'Escourt Atkinson]], made the first calculation of stellar thermonuclear reactions.<ref> Atkinson, R. and Houtermans, F. ''Aufbaumöglichkeit in Sternen'', ''Z. für Physik'' '''54''' 656-665 (1929). </ref> <ref> Martin Harwit ''The Growth of Astrophysical Understanding'', ''Physics Today'' Volume 58 Number 11 38 (2003) [http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-56/iss-11/p38.html Physics Today]</ref> Their pioneering calculations were the impetus for [[Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker]] and [[Hans Bethe]] , in [[1939]], to put forth the correct theory of stellar thermonuclear energy generation. <ref> Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Houtermans.</ref> <ref> [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Houtermans.html Houtermans Biography] – Wolfram</ref> [[Charlotte Riefenstahl]], who received her doctorate in physics at the University of Göttingen in 1927, the same year as Houtermans and [[Robert Oppenheimer]], was courted by both men. She was no relation to [[Leni Riefenstahl]], the notable German filmmaker.<ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 127.</ref> In 1930, she left her teaching position at [[Vassar College]] and went back to Germany. During a physics conference at the [[Black Sea]] resort of [[Batumi]], Riefenstahl and Houtermans were married in August [[1930]], in [[Tbilisi]], with [[Wolfgang Pauli]] and [[Rudolf Peierls]] as witnesses to the ceremony.<ref> Landrock, 2003, 190.</ref> <ref>[http://www.nernst.de/tammann/riefenstahl.htm Charlotte Riefenstahl] - Nernst Memorial Website</ref> <ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 124.</ref> <ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 32.</ref> (Three other references cite the year as being [[1931]].<ref> [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Houtermans.html Houtermans Biography] – Wolfram</ref> <ref> Bird, 2005, 63 and 69.</ref> <ref> Powers, 1993, 85.</ref>) ==Career== From [[1932]] to [[1933]], Houtermans taught at the Technische Hochschule Berlin and was an assistant to Hertz. While there, he met [[Patrick Blackett]], [[Max von Laue]], and [[Leó Szilárd]]. Houtermans was a [[Communist]];<ref> Frisch, 1980, 71.</ref> he had been a member of the German Communist Party since the 1920s.<ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 123 (second footnote).</ref> After [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power in [[1933]], Charlotte Houtermans insisted that they leave Germany. They went to [[Great Britain]], near [[Cambridge]], where he worked for the EMI (Electrical and Musical Instruments, Ltd.) Television Laboratory.<ref> Landrock, 2003, 191.</ref> In [[1935]] Houtermans emigrated to the [[Soviet Union]], as the result of a proposal by [[Alexander Weissberg]], who had emigrated to there in [[1931]].<ref> [http://www.ralphmag.org/AQ/weissberg2.html The Accused] – Alexander Weissberg</ref> Houtermans took an appointment at the Khar’kov Physico-Technical Institute and worked there for two years with the Russian physicist Valentin P. Fomin. In the [[Great Purge]], Houtermans was arrested by the [[NKVD]] in December [[1937]]. He was tortured and confessed to being a [[Trotskyist]] plotter and German spy, out of fear from threats against Charlotte. However, Charlotte had already escaped from the Soviet Union to [[Denmark]], after which she went to England and finally the USA.<ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 33.</ref> After the [[Hitler-Stalin Pact]] of 1939, Houtermans was turned over to the [[Gestapo]] in May [[1940]] and imprisoned in [[Berlin]]. The Gestapo subjected him to brutal interrogation, accused of being a Soviet spy. Through efforts of [[Max von Laue]], Houtermans was released in August 1940, whereupon he took a position at ''Forschungslaboratoriums für Elektronenphysik'',<ref> [http://www.sachsen.de/sadra/887.htm sachen.de] - ''Zur Ehrung von Manfred von Ardenne''.</ref> a private laboratory of [[Manfred von Ardenne | Manfred Baron von Ardenne]], in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin. In [[1944]], Houtermans took a position as a nuclear physicist at the [[Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt | Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt]].<ref> Landrock, 2003, 191.</ref> <ref> Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Houtermans.</ref> <ref> Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Ardenne.</ref> <ref> [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Houtermans.html Houtermans Biography] – Wolfram</ref> While imprisoned in the [[Soviet Union]], a cellmate of Houtermans was the [[Kiev University]] historian Konstantine F. Shteppa. They would later write a book together, "Russian Purge and the Extraction of Confession",<ref>Beck, F. and Godin, W. "Russian Purge and the Extraction of Confession" (Hurst and Blackett, 1951).</ref> under the pseudonyms of Beck and Godin to protect their many friends and colleagues back in the USSR.<ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 35.</ref> At the Forschunsinstitut Manfred von Ardenne, Houtermans showed that [[transuranic]] isotopes, such as [[neptunium]] and [[plutonium]], could be used as fissionable fuels in substitution for [[uranium]]. Houtermans sent a telegram from [[Switzerland]] to [[Eugene Wigner]] at the [[Met Lab]] warning the USA’s [[Manhattan Project]] of German work on fission: “Hurry up. We are on the track.”<ref> Wigner, 1992, 241.</ref> During Houtermans’ employment at the [[Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt | Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt]] (PTR), he got himself into serious trouble as a result of his habit of being a chain-smoker and suffering great distress if he did not have a supply of tobacco. On official PTR stationery, he wrote to a [[Dresden]] cigarette manufacturer to obtain a kilogram of Macedonian tobacco, claiming the tobacco was "kriegswichtig", i.e., important for the war effort. When he had smoked the tobacco, he again wrote for more, however, the letter fell into the hands of an official at the PTR, who fired him. [[Werner Heisenberg]] and [[Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker | Carl Weizsäcker]] came to the rescue of Houtermans and arranged an interview for him with [[Walter Gerlach]], the plenipotentiary (Bevollmächtiger) for German nuclear research under the [[Reich Research Council]].<ref> Bernstein, 2001, 364.</ref> <ref> Powers, 1993, 413-414.</ref> <ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 36.</ref> As a result, Houtermans moved to Göttingen in [[1945]], where Hans Kopferman and [[Richard Becker]] got him positions at the Institut für Theoretische Physik and II. Physikalischen Institut der Universität Göttingen.<ref> Landrock, 2003, 197.</ref> <ref> Khriplovich relates the tobacco story also, but places it as having taken place at the Forschunsinstitut Manfred von Ardenne; see Khriplovich, 1992, 36. The timeline and places of Houtermans’ employment given by Powers agrees with that of Landrock; see Landrock, 2003, 191.</ref> From 1952, Houtermans took a position as ordinarius professor of physics at the [[University of Bern]].<ref> Landrock, 2003, 191.</ref> <ref> Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Houtermans.</ref> During his tenure there, he founded the internationally renowned ''Berner Schule'', whose thrust was the application of [[radioactivity]] to [[astrophysics]], [[cosmochemistry]], and [[geosciences]].<ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 124.</ref> ==Personal== Houtermans had a great sense of humor. Many have commented on this,<ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 29-30.</ref> <ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 125.</ref> and one of his colleagues,<ref> Landrock, 2003, 197.</ref> H. von Buttel, collected stories told by Houtermans and privately published them in a book with more than 40 pages.<ref> Buttlar, H. von "Leonium und andere Anekdoten um den Physikprofessor Dr. F. G. Houtermans" (Bochum, 1982).</ref> One story purports to explain the contributions of seven of the twentieth century’s most exceptional scientists, [[Theodore von Kármán]], [[George de Hevesy]], [[Michael Polanyi]], [[Leo Szilard]], [[Eugene Wigner]], [[John von Neumann]], and [[Edward Teller]], all Hungarians. According to Houtermans, they are Martians, who are afraid that their accents will give them away, so they masquerade as [[Hungary | Hungarians]], i.e., people unable to speak any language but Hungarian without an accent.<ref> Rhodes, 1986, 106-107.</ref> Houtermans was married four times.<ref> [http://www.oeaw.ac.at/shared/news/2003/inf_houtermans.html Fritz Houtermans] Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften</ref> Charlotte was his first and third wife in four marriages. They had two children, a daughter Giovanna (born in Berlin, 1932) and a son Jan (born in Khar’kov, 1935), and they were divorced the first time in [[1943]], due to a new law in Germany and enforced wartime separation.<ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 32.</ref> <ref> Landrock, 2003, 196.</ref> In February [[1944]], Houtermans married Doctor Ilse Bartz, a chemical engineer; they worked together during the war and published a paper.<ref> Houtermans, F. and Bartz, I. "Kernphotoeffekt im Beryllium." "Physik. Z." '''44''' 167-176 (1943).</ref> Houtermans and Ilse had three children, Pieter, Elsa, and Cornelia.<ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 126.</ref> In August [[1953]], again with Pauli standing as a witness, Charlotte and Houtermans were again married, but they divorced again in only a few months. In [[1955]], Houtermans married Lore Müller, sister of his stepbrother, Hans. She brought her four-year old daughter to the marriage, and they had a son, Hendrik, born in [[1956]].<ref> Hentschel, Ann M., 2005, 127.</ref> <ref>Landrock, 2003, 196-198.</ref> Houtermans died of [[lung cancer]] on [[1 March]] [[1966]]. <ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 37.</ref> ==Internal Report== The following was published in ''[[Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte]]'' (''Research Reports in Nuclear Physics''), an internal publication of the German ''[[German nuclear energy project | Uranverein]]''. Reports in this publication 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 [[Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe | Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center]] and the [[American Institute of Physics]].<ref> Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix E; see the entry for ''Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte''.</ref> <ref> Walker, 1993, 268.</ref> *Fritz Houtermans ''Zur Frage der Auslösung von Kern-Kettenreaktionen''. G-94.<ref> Walker, 1993, 271.</ref> ==Literature== For a partial list of literature by Houtermans, see the Wolfram biography.<ref> [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Houtermans.html Biography with a list of published works] – Wolfram</ref> ==Books== *Beck, F. and Godin, W. "Russian Purge and the Extraction of Confession" (Hurst and Blackett, 1951). Houtermans and Konstantine F. Shteppa, the authors of this book, took the pseudonyms Beck and Godin to protect their many friends and colleagues back in the USSR.<ref> Khriplovich, 1992, 35.</ref> *Houtermans, F.G. "Über ein neues Verfahren zur Durchführung chemischer Altersbestimmungen nach der Blei-Methode" (Springer, 1951) *Houtermans, Fritz "Publikationen von Friedrich Georg Houtermans aus den Jahren 1926-1950" (Zusammengestellt im Physikalischen Institut Universität Bern, 1955) *Geiss, J. and [[Edward D. Goldberg|E. D. Goldberg]] and F. G. Houtermans "Earth Science and Meteoritics- dedicated to F. G. Houtermans on his sixtieth birthday F.G. Houtermans" (North Holland, 1963) ==Bibliography== *Bernstein, Jeremy ''Hitler’s Uranium Club: The Secret Recording’s at Farm Hall'' (Copernicus, 2001) ISBN 0-387-95089-3 *Buttlar, H. von "Leonium und andere Anekdoten um den Physikprofessor Dr. F. G. Houtermans" (Bochum, 1982) *Bird, Kai and Martin J. Sherwin ''American Promethius: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer'' (Vintage, 2005) * [[Viktor Frenkel | Frenkel, Viktor]], ''Professor Houtermans, Works, Life, Fate (biography in Russian)'', (Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1997) *[[Otto Robert Frisch | Frisch, Otto Robert]] ''What Little I Remember'' (Cambridge, 1980) *[[George Gamow | Gamow, George]] ''My World Line: An Informal Autobiography'' (Viking, 1970) ISBN 670-50376-2 *Hentschel, Ann M. ''The Physical Tourist: Peripatetic Highlights in Bern'', ''Physics in Perspective'' Volume 7, Number 1, 107-129 (2005). The author is cited as being at the Wissenschaftstheorie und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, University of Bern, Uni-Tobler, Länggassstrasse 49a, CH-3012 Bern 9, Switzerland. *Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) ''Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources'' (Birkhäuser, 1996) ISBN 0-8176-5312-0 *Houtermans, F. ''Determination of the Age of the Earth from the Isotopic Composition of Meteoritic Lead'', ''Nuovo Cimento'' '''10''' 1623-1633 (1953) *[[Robert Jungk | Jungk, Robert]] ''Brighter Than a Thousand Suns'' (Harcourt, Brace, 1958) *Khriplovich, Iosif B. ''The Eventful Life of Fritz Houtermans'', ''Physics Today'' Volume 45, Issue 7, 29 – 37 (1992). The author is cited as being at the [[Gersh Budker]] [[Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics | Institute of Nuclear Physics]] in [[Novosibirsk]], [[Russia]], and professor at the [[Novosibirsk State University | Novosibirsk University]]. *[http://www.naturwissenschaftliche-rundschau.de/navigation/dokumente/Beitrag-Landrock-4-2003.pdf Landrock, Konrad]''Friedrich Georg Houtermans (1903–1966) – Ein bedeutender Physiker des 20. Jahrhunderts'', ''Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau'' Volume 56, Number 4, 187 – 199 (2003) *Marvin, U.B. ''Oral histories in meteoritics and planetary sciences: VIII Friedrich Begemann'', ''Meteoritics & Planteary Sciences'' '''37''' B69-B77 (2002) *Patterson, C. ''Age of meteorites and the Earth'', ''Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta'' '''10''' 230-237 (1956) *Powers, Thomas ''Heisenberg’s War: The Secret History of the German Bomb'' (Knopf, 1993) ISBN 0-394-51411-4 *Rhodes, Richard "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" (Simon and Schuster, 1986) ISBN 0-671-44133-7 *Walker, Mark ''German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939&ndash;1949'' (Cambridge, 1993) ISBN 0-521-43804-7 *Wigner, Eugene P. and Andrew Szanton ''The Recollections of Eugene P. Wigner as told to Andrew Szanton'' (Plenum, 1992) ISBN 0-306-44326-0 ==External links== *[http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Houtermans.html Biography with a list of published works] - Wolfram *[http://www.oeaw.ac.at/shared/news/2003/inf_houtermans.html Fritz Houtermans] - Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften *[http://www.naturwissenschaftliche-rundschau.de/navigation/dokumente/Beitrag-Landrock-4-2003.pdf Konrad Landrock] - ''Friedrich Georg Houtermans (1903–1966) – Ein bedeutender Physiker des 20. Jahrhunderts'' ==Notes== {{reflist}} {{BD|1903|1966|Houtermans, Fritz}} [[Category:German communists]] [[Category:German physicists]] [[Category:German victims of Soviet repressions]] [[Category:Nuclear physicists]] [[Category:Lung cancer deaths]] [[Category:People from West Prussia]] [[Category:People who emigrated to escape Nazism]] [[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]] [[Category:Technical University of Berlin alumni]] [[Category:Technical University of Berlin faculty]] [[Category:Nuclear program of the German Third Reich]] [[de:Fritz G. Houtermans]] [[es:Fritz Houtermans]] [[it:Fritz Houtermans]]