Karl-Heinz Höcker
Encyclopedia
Karl-Heinz Höcker was a German theoretical nuclear physicist who worked in the German Uranverein
. After World War II, he worked at the university of Stuttgart
and was the founder of the Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme.
). He received his doctorate at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University, in 1940, under Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
.
collaborated with von Weizsäcker at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik (KWIP, after World War II reorganized and renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics
), in Berlin-Dahlem
, on the theory behind the Uranmaschine (uranium machine, i.e., nuclear reactor). In 1942, Höcker was an Assistant (Assistant) at the KWIP.
Many at the KWIP and those working on the Uranmaschine had the classification of unabkömmlich (uk, indispensable) and were exempt from being drafted into armed service. Both Höcker and his colleague Müller had the classification uk, but their fates were quite different. As the war raged on, the demand for men to provide armed service resulted in Höcker and Müller being drafted in late 1940 or early 1941. Not even Kurt Diebner
, managing director of the KWIP, could stop the call-up. Höcker was returned to the KWIP in 1942 due to poor health; Müller died at the Russian front
. It was not until 1944 that Werner Osenberg, head of the planning board at the Reichsforschungsrat
(RFR, Reich Research Council), was able to initiate calling back 5000 engineers and scientists from the front to work on research categorized as kriegsentscheidend (decisive for the war effort). By the end of the war, the number recalled had reached 15,000. Many of the scientists called for military service had been at institutes under the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft
(Kaiser Wilhelm Society).
Shortly after return to the KWIP, Höcker became an Assistant to von Weizsäcker and they went to the German-occupied University of Strasbourg
, Alsace, France. Höcker performed a theoretical analysis on the geometry for uranium
reactors, concluding with the choice of the lattice arrangement.
In 1943, most of the KWIP was evacuated to Hechingen
in Southern Germany as a result of air raids on Berlin. In 1944, Höcker and von Weizsäcker evacuated Strasbourg and went to the KWIP facilities there.
In 1948, Höcker was a supernumerary lecturer and in 1955 a supernumerary professor of theoretical physics and nucleonics at the University of Stuttgart
.
The beginning of the Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme (Institute for Nuclear Power and Energy Systems) was in 1955 when Höcker, at the University of Stuttgart, founded the Arbeitsgruppe zur Kerntechnik (Working Group on Nuclear Technology) and became its director. In 1963, Höcker occupied the newly created Lehrstuhl der Fakultät Maschinenwesen (Chair of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) and was simultaneously appointed as Director of the Institut für Kernenergetik (Institute for Nuclear Power). In accordance with its expanded responsibilities, the institute is now known as the Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme (IKE). Höcker’s 80th birthday, his role as founder and leader in the IKE, and the 40th anniversary of the IKE were celebrated by a Festkolloquium in 1996.
(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
.
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...
. After World War II, he worked at the university of Stuttgart
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
and was the founder of the Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme.
Education
From 1935 to 1940, Höcker studied at the University of Marburg and the Friedrich-Wilhelms University (in 1949 reorganized and renamed the Humboldt University of BerlinHumboldt 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...
). He received his doctorate at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University, in 1940, under 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...
.
Career
After 1939, Höcker and Paul O. MüllerPaul O. Müller
Paul O. Müller was a German theoretical nuclear physicist who worked in the German Uranverein. He was drafted into the German armed forces and died on the Russian Front in World War II. -Education:...
collaborated with von Weizsäcker at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik (KWIP, after World War II reorganized and renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics is a physics institute in Munich, Germany that specializes in High Energy Physics and Astroparticle physics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institute, after its first director.It was founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm...
), 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...
, on the theory behind the Uranmaschine (uranium machine, i.e., nuclear reactor). In 1942, Höcker was an Assistant (Assistant) at the KWIP.
Many at the KWIP and those working on the Uranmaschine had the classification of unabkömmlich (uk, indispensable) and were exempt from being drafted into armed service. Both Höcker and his colleague Müller had the classification uk, but their fates were quite different. As the war raged on, the demand for men to provide armed service resulted in Höcker and Müller being drafted in late 1940 or early 1941. Not even 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...
, managing director of the KWIP, could stop the call-up. Höcker was returned to the KWIP in 1942 due to poor health; Müller died at the Russian front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. It was not until 1944 that Werner Osenberg, head of the planning board at 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), was able to initiate calling back 5000 engineers and scientists from the front to work on research categorized as kriegsentscheidend (decisive for the war effort). By the end of the war, the number recalled had reached 15,000. Many of the scientists called for military service had been at institutes under 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...
(Kaiser Wilhelm Society).
Shortly after return to the KWIP, Höcker became an Assistant to von Weizsäcker and they went to the German-occupied University of Strasbourg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, Alsace, France. Höcker performed a theoretical analysis on the geometry for 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...
reactors, concluding with the choice of the lattice arrangement.
In 1943, most of the KWIP was evacuated to Hechingen
Hechingen
Hechingen is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border.- City districts :...
in Southern Germany as a result of air raids on Berlin. In 1944, Höcker and von Weizsäcker evacuated Strasbourg and went to the KWIP facilities there.
In 1948, Höcker was a supernumerary lecturer and in 1955 a supernumerary professor of theoretical physics and nucleonics at the University of Stuttgart
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
.
The beginning of the Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme (Institute for Nuclear Power and Energy Systems) was in 1955 when Höcker, at the University of Stuttgart, founded the Arbeitsgruppe zur Kerntechnik (Working Group on Nuclear Technology) and became its director. In 1963, Höcker occupied the newly created Lehrstuhl der Fakultät Maschinenwesen (Chair of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) and was simultaneously appointed as Director of the Institut für Kernenergetik (Institute for Nuclear Power). In accordance with its expanded responsibilities, the institute is now known as the Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme (IKE). Höcker’s 80th birthday, his role as founder and leader in the IKE, and the 40th anniversary of the IKE were celebrated by a Festkolloquium in 1996.
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...
.
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Die Abhängigkeit des Energiegewinnes in der Uranmaschine von der Dichte des Urans und der Dichte der Bremssubstanz G-41 (16 June 1940)
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Berechnung der Energieerzeugung in der Uranmaschine. II Kohle als Bremssubstanz G-42 (20 April 1940)
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Berechnung der Energieerzeugung in der Uranmaschine. IV Wasser G-43 (3 June 1940)
- Carl-Friedrich von Weizsäcker, Paul Müller, and Karl-Heinz Höcker Berechnung der Energieerzeugung in der Uranmaschine G-60 (26 February 1940)
- F. Berkei, W. Borrmann, W. Czulius, Kurt DiebnerKurt DiebnerKurt 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...
, Georg Hartwig, K. H. Höcker, W. HerrmannWalter Herrmann (physicist)Walter Herrmann was a German nuclear physicist who worked on the German nuclear energy project during World War II...
, H. PoseHeinz PoseRudolf 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 RexerErnst RexerErnst 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...
Bericht über einen Würfelversuch mit Uranoxyd und Paraffin (dated before 26 November 1942). G-125.
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Auswertung des Würfelversuchs mit Uranoxyd und Paraffin in der Versuchsstelle Gottow des Heereswaffenamts G-164 (26 November 1942)
- Kurt Diebner, Georg Hartwig, W. Herrmann, H. Westmeyer, Werner Czulius, F. Berkei, and Karl-Heinz Höcker Vorläufige Mitteilung über einen Versuch mit Uranwürfeln und schwerem Eis als Bremssubstanz G-211 (April 1943)
- Kurt DiebnerKurt DiebnerKurt 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...
, Georg Hartwig, W. Herrmann, H. Westmeyer, Werner Czulius, F. Berkei, and Karl-Heinz Höcker Bericht übereinen Versuch mit Würfeln aus Uran-Metall und schwerem Eis G-212 (July 1943)
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Über die Anordnung von Ruan und Streusubstanz in der U-Machine G-218 (25 January 1943)
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Zure Auswertung der Grossversuche G-221
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Über die Abmessungen von Uran und schwerem Wasser in einer Kugelstrukturmaschine G-222 (23 June 1943)
- Karl-Heinz Höcker Vergleich der bei L-VI bestimmten Neutronendichte mit der Theorie G-223 (November 1943)
Books
- Wilhelm Bierfelder and Karl-Heinz Höcker (editors) Systemforschung und Neuerungsmanagement. Fachberichte und Referate. Band 11 (Oldenbourg, 1980) ISBN 3486249819
Selected literature
- K.-H. Höcker Die Komponenten der kosmischen Strahlung und ihre Intensitäten in der Atmosphäre, Annalen der Physik Volume 441, Issue 1, 353–364 (1950)
- E. Schopper, K. H. Höcker, G. Kuhn Secondary Nucleons in Lead, Physical Review Volume 82, Issue 3, 445–445 (1951). Institutional citation: Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, Germany.
External links
- (IKE) – Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme, Universität Stuttgart Website