Reinhold Mannkopff
Encyclopedia
Reinhold Mannkopff was a German
experimental physicist who specialized in spectroscopy. In 1939, he was a member of the first Uranium Club, the German nuclear energy project. After World War II, he was the secretary of the Northwest German branch of the German Physical Society for over 20 years.
, the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
), and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. He received his doctorate under James Franck
, in 1926, at the University of Göttingen. His thesis was on the scattering of light in sodium
vapor.
there. In 1929, Mannkopff switched to mineralogy, and from 1930 to 1933 he was an assistant to Victor Moritz Goldschmidt at the Mineralogischen Institut of the University of Göttingen. At the institute, he applied his educational background to quantitative applications of spectroscopy to chemical analysis of the earth’s crust.
In 1934, he became a Privatdozent
at the University of Göttingen and in 1939 a nichtplanmäßiger Professor (supernumerary professor) there. In 1939, he also became a member of the short-lived, first Uranverein (Uranium Club), the abortive start of the German nuclear energy project
.
Paul Harteck
was director of the physical chemistry department at the University of Hamburg
and an advisor to the Heereswaffenamt (HWA, Army Ordnance Office). On 24 April 1939, along with his teaching assistant Wilhelm Groth
, Harteck made contact with the Reichskriegsministerium (RKM, Reich Ministry of War) to alert them to the potential of military applications of nuclear chain reactions. Two days earlier, on 22 April 1939, after hearing a colloquium paper by Wilhelm Hanle
on the use of uranium
fission
in a Uranmaschine (uranium machine, i.e., nuclear reactor
), Georg Joos
, along with Hanle, notified Wilhelm Dames, at the Reichserziehungsministerium
(REM, Reich Ministry of Education), of potential military applications of nuclear energy. The communication was given to Abraham Esau
, head of the physics section of the Reichsforschungsrat
(RFR, Reich Research Council) at the REM. On 29 April, a group, organized by Esau, met at the REM to discuss the potential of a sustained nuclear chain reaction
. The group included the physicists Walther Bothe
, Robert Döpel
, Hans Geiger, Wolfgang Gentner
(probably sent by Walther Bothe
), Wilhelm Hanle
, Gerhard Hoffmann
, and Georg Joos
; Peter Debye
was invited, but he did not attend. After this, informal work began at the Georg-August University of Göttingen by Joos, Hanle, and their colleague Reinhold Mannkopff; the group of physicists was known informally as the first Uranverein (Uranium Club) and formally as Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kernphysik. The group’s work was discontinued in August 1939, when the three were called to military training.
After World War II
, Mannkopff was the secretary of the Northwest German branch of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
(DPG, German Physical Society) for over 20 years.
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...
experimental physicist who specialized in spectroscopy. In 1939, he was a member of the first Uranium Club, the German nuclear energy project. After World War II, he was the secretary of the Northwest German branch of the German Physical Society for over 20 years.
Education
From 1913 to 1914 and then from 1919 to 1926, Mannkopff studied physics at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität FreiburgUniversity 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...
, the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
), and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. He received his doctorate under James Franck
James Franck
James Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
, in 1926, at the University of Göttingen. His thesis was on the scattering of light in sodium
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
vapor.
Career
From 1926 to 1927, Mannkopff was an assistant to Carl Runge at the University of Göttingen, working with Rowland gratings. From 1927 to 1930, he was a teaching assistant to James FranckJames Franck
James Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
there. In 1929, Mannkopff switched to mineralogy, and from 1930 to 1933 he was an assistant to Victor Moritz Goldschmidt at the Mineralogischen Institut of the University of Göttingen. At the institute, he applied his educational background to quantitative applications of spectroscopy to chemical analysis of the earth’s crust.
In 1934, he 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...
at the University of Göttingen and in 1939 a nichtplanmäßiger Professor (supernumerary professor) there. In 1939, he also became a member of the short-lived, first Uranverein (Uranium Club), the abortive start of 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...
.
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...
was director of the physical chemistry department at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
and an advisor to the Heereswaffenamt (HWA, Army Ordnance Office). On 24 April 1939, along with his teaching assistant Wilhelm Groth
Wilhelm Groth
Wilhelm Groth was a German physical chemist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; his main activity was the development of centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium. After the war, he was a professor of physical chemistry at the...
, Harteck made contact with the Reichskriegsministerium (RKM, Reich Ministry of War) to alert them to the potential of military applications of nuclear chain reactions. Two days earlier, on 22 April 1939, after hearing a colloquium paper by Wilhelm Hanle
Wilhelm Hanle
Wilhelm Hanle was a German experimental physicist. He is known for the Hanle effect. During World War II, he made contributions to the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club...
on the use of 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...
fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
in a Uranmaschine (uranium machine, i.e., nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
), Georg Joos
Georg Joos
Georg Jakob Christof Joos was a German theoretical physicist. He wrote Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, first published in 1932 and one of the most influential theoretical physics textbooks of the 20th Century.-Education:Joos began his higher education in 1912 at the Technische Hochschule...
, along with Hanle, notified Wilhelm Dames, at the Reichserziehungsministerium
Reichserziehungsministerium
The Reichserziehungsministerium was officially known as the Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung .-Background:...
(REM, Reich Ministry of Education), of potential military applications of nuclear energy. The communication was given to Abraham Esau
Abraham Esau
Robert Abraham Esau was a German physicist.After receipt of his doctorate from the University of Berlin, Esau worked at Telefunken, where he pioneered very high frequency waves used in radar, radio, and television, and he was president of the Deutscher Telefunken Verband...
, head of the physics section 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) at the REM. On 29 April, a group, organized by Esau, met at the REM to discuss the potential of a sustained nuclear chain reaction
Nuclear chain reaction
A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more nuclear reactions, thus leading to a self-propagating number of these reactions. The specific nuclear reaction may be the fission of heavy isotopes or the fusion of light isotopes...
. The group included the physicists 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....
, 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...
, Hans Geiger, Wolfgang Gentner
Wolfgang Gentner
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...
(probably sent by 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....
), Wilhelm Hanle
Wilhelm Hanle
Wilhelm Hanle was a German experimental physicist. He is known for the Hanle effect. During World War II, he made contributions to the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club...
, 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:...
, and Georg Joos
Georg Joos
Georg Jakob Christof Joos was a German theoretical physicist. He wrote Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, first published in 1932 and one of the most influential theoretical physics textbooks of the 20th Century.-Education:Joos began his higher education in 1912 at the Technische Hochschule...
; Peter Debye
Peter Debye
Peter Joseph William Debye FRS was a Dutch physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.-Early life:...
was invited, but he did not attend. After this, informal work began at the Georg-August University of Göttingen by Joos, Hanle, and their colleague Reinhold Mannkopff; the group of physicists was known informally as the first Uranverein (Uranium Club) and formally as Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kernphysik. The group’s work was discontinued in August 1939, when the three were called to military training.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Mannkopff was the secretary of the Northwest German branch of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft is the world's largest organization of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,000, as of 2011...
(DPG, German Physical Society) for over 20 years.
Literature by Mannkopff
- Reinhold Mannkopff Über die Auslöschung der Resonanzfluoreszenz von Natriumdampf, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 36, Number 4, 315 – 324 (April, 1926). Received 4 February 1926. Institutional affiliation: II. Physikalisches Institut der Universität, Göttingen. The paper was cited as being an excerpt from the author’s doctoral dissertation.
- C. Runge† and R. Mannkopff Über die Beseitigung des Astigmatismus beim Rowlandschen Konkavgitter, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 45, Numbers 1-2, 13 – 29 (January, 1927). Received 23 July 1927. Institutional affiliation: II. Physikalisches Institut der Universität, Göttingen.
- Reinhold Mannkopff and Clemens Peters Über quantitative Spektralanalyse mit Hilfe der negativen Glimmschicht im Lichtbogen, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 70, Numbers 7-8, 444 – 453 (July, 1931). Received 18 May 1931. Institutional affiliation: Mineralogisches Institut der Universität, Göttingen.
- R. Mannkopff Über eine Bauart von Prismenspektrographen mit langer Brennweite, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 72, Numbers 9-10, 569 – 577 (September, 1931). Received 14 September 1931. Institutional affiliation: Mineralogisches Institut der Universität, Göttingen.
- R. Mannkopff Anregungsvorgänge und Ionenbewegung im Lichtbogen, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 76, Numbers 5-6, 396 – 406 (May, 1932). Received 18 April 1932. Institutional affiliation: Mineralogisches Institut der Universität, Göttingen.
- R. Mannkopff Über Elektronendichte und Elektronentemperatur in frei brennenden Lichtbögen, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 86, Numbers 3-4, 161 – 184 (March, 1933). Received 22 August 1933. Institutional affiliation: Mineralogisches Institut der Universität, Göttingen.
- R. K. Dresoher-Kaden, R. Mannkopff, and H. Steinle Über Schmelzversuche an Kohlenstoff, Die NaturwissenschaftenDie NaturwissenschaftenNaturwissenschaften is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer on behalf of several learned societies.- History :...
Volume 27, Issue 20-21, 370 – 370 (1939)
- R. Mannkopff Die Berechnung der Lichtbogentemperatur und das Stabilitätsproblem der Lichtbogensäule, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 120, Numbers 3-4, 228 – 251 (March, 1943). Received 19 October 1942. Affiliation: Göttingen.
- R. Mannkopf Über den Energietransport durch Strahlung der Resonanzlinien in Gasen, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 120, Numbers 5-6, 301 – 317 (May, 1943). Received 25 November 1942. Affiliation: Göttingen.
Book by Mannkopff
- Reinhold Mannkopff Grundlagen und Methoden der chemischen Emissionsspektralanalyse: Eine Einf. mit prakt. Arbeitshinweisen (Verlag Chemie, 1975)