Gustav Theodor Hans Hermann Hupfeld (November 28, 1905 – November 11, 1942) was a German

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...

 known for his work on the scattering

Scattering

Scattering is a general physical process where some forms of radiation, such as light, sound, or moving particles, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more localized non-uniformities in the medium through which they pass. In conventional use, this also includes deviation of...

 of gamma ray

Gamma ray

Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...

s.

Early career

Hans-Hermann Hupfeld was born on his parents' farm in Klein-Varchow

Groß Flotow

Groß Flotow is a village and a former municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Since 7 June 2009, it is part of the town Penzlin....

, Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

, Germany. He obtained a degree in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 and worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut, 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...

, from 1929 until 1932 with Prof. 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...

 and Prof. Lise Meitner

Lise Meitner

Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...

. His research during that time resulted in the discovery of the so-called Meitner–Hupfeld effect

Meitner–Hupfeld effect

The Meitner–Hupfeld effect is an anomalously large scattering of Gamma rays by heavy elements. Later on, the Meitner–Hupfeld effect was explained by a broad theory from which evolved the Standard Model, a theory for explaining the structure of the atomic nucleus...

.

The Meitner-Hupfeld effect is an anomalously large scattering of Gamma rays by heavy elements

Chemical element

A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...

. Later on, the Meitner–Hupfeld effect was explained by a broad theory from which evolved the Standard Model

Standard Model

The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...

, a theory for explaining the structure of the atomic nucleus

Atomic nucleus

The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...

. The anomalous gamma-ray behavior was eventually ascribed to electron–positron pair production and annihilation.

Although Professor Meitner was recognized for her work, Dr. Hupfeld is usually ignored, and little or no account of his life exists. His name is misspelled as Heinz Hupfeld, instead of Hans-Hermann Hupfeld in publications from the early '30s.

Later career

Disgruntled by lack of recognition, Dr. Hupfeld left the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut in 1932 (now known as the Max Planck Society

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....

) in Berlin and went, because of Germany's bad economic situation at that time, to help in the construction of buildings using a sustainable earthen technology known as the "Dunne loam loaf" technique, pioneered in Europe by Pastor Gustav von Bodelschwingh, Ruhrgebiet, Germany. From there he went to the recently-founded "Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst" (FAD) also created by v. Bodelschwingh, but was very suddenly incorporated by the Nazi regime into the "Reichsarbeitsdienst" (RAD) at Schloss Simmenau, High Silesia and Oppeln/OS (after World War II, known as Opole, Poland). From there he left to serve as a Reserve Officer until his death at the age of 36 during World War II in the Russian Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

. According to letters sent by the German army to his widow, he fell on November 11, 1942, in Nisch Ssaniba, North Ossetia

North Ossetia-Alania

The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania is a federal subject of Russia . Its population according to the 2010 Census was 712,877.-Name:...

, Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

.

There are a number of curious coincidences in his life with notable events in Physics: the Annus Mirabilis Papers

Annus Mirabilis Papers

The Annus Mirabilis papers are the papers of Albert Einstein published in the Annalen der Physik scientific journal in 1905. These four articles contributed substantially to the foundation of modern physics and changed views on space, time, and matter...

and the 100th anniversary of his birthday coincided with the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

' World Year of Physics.

Dr. Hupfeld was survived by his wife and three daughters.