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Walter H. Schottky

 

 
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Walter H. Schottky
 
 
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Walter Hermann Schottky (23 July 1886, Zürich
Zürich

Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne....
, Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 – 4 March 1976, Pretzfeld
Pretzfeld

Pretzfeld is a Municipalities of Germany in the district of Forchheim in Bavaria in Germany....
, West Germany
West Germany

West Germany was the common English name for the Germany , from its formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when East Germany was dissolved and its States of Germany became part of the Federal Republic, ending the more than 40-year division of Germany....
) was a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 physicist who invented the screen-grid vacuum tube
Vacuum tube

In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , thermionic valve, or just valve is a device used to amplifier, switch, otherwise modify, or create an Electricity signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space....
 in 1915 and the tetrode
Tetrode

A tetrode is an electronic device having four active electrodes. The term most commonly applies to a two-grid vacuum tube. It has the three electrodes of a triode and an additional screen grid which significantly changes its behaviour....
 in 1919 while working at Siemens
Siemens AG

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest engineering Conglomerate . Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany....
. In 1938, Schottky formulated a theory predicting the Schottky effect, now used in Schottky diode
Schottky diode

The Schottky diode is a semiconductor diode with a low forward voltage drop and a very fast switching action.The cat's-whisker detectors used in the early days of wireless#History can be considered as primitive Schottky diodes....
s.

raduated from the Steglitz Gymnasium, Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 in 1904. He obtained his BS in Physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
, at the University of Berlin in 1908.






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Walter Hermann Schottky (23 July 1886, Zürich
Zürich

Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne....
, Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 – 4 March 1976, Pretzfeld
Pretzfeld

Pretzfeld is a Municipalities of Germany in the district of Forchheim in Bavaria in Germany....
, West Germany
West Germany

West Germany was the common English name for the Germany , from its formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when East Germany was dissolved and its States of Germany became part of the Federal Republic, ending the more than 40-year division of Germany....
) was a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 physicist who invented the screen-grid vacuum tube
Vacuum tube

In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , thermionic valve, or just valve is a device used to amplifier, switch, otherwise modify, or create an Electricity signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space....
 in 1915 and the tetrode
Tetrode

A tetrode is an electronic device having four active electrodes. The term most commonly applies to a two-grid vacuum tube. It has the three electrodes of a triode and an additional screen grid which significantly changes its behaviour....
 in 1919 while working at Siemens
Siemens AG

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest engineering Conglomerate . Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany....
. In 1938, Schottky formulated a theory predicting the Schottky effect, now used in Schottky diode
Schottky diode

The Schottky diode is a semiconductor diode with a low forward voltage drop and a very fast switching action.The cat's-whisker detectors used in the early days of wireless#History can be considered as primitive Schottky diodes....
s.

Education

He graduated from the Steglitz Gymnasium, Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 in 1904. He obtained his BS in Physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
, at the University of Berlin in 1908. He obtained his in PhD Physics at the University of Berlin in 1912 under Max Planck
Max Planck

Karl Ernst Ludwig Marx Planck, better known as Max Planck was a Germany physicist. He is considered to be the founder of the Quantum mechanics, and one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century....
 and Heinrich Rubens
Heinrich Rubens

Heinrich Rubens was a Germany physicist.He played a direct role in the genesis of the Quantum mechanics, providing the experimental results that pushed Max Planck to provide the first quantum hypothesis....
, with a thesis entitled: Zur relativtheoretischen Energetik und Dynamik.

Career

His postdoctaral period was spent at University of Jena (1912-14). He then lectured at the University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg

The University of W?rzburg is a university in W?rzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group....
 (1919-23). He became Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Rostock
University of Rostock

The University of Rostock is the university of the city Rostock, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Founded in 1419, it is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area as well as the second oldest in northern Europe after the University of St Andrews....
 (1923-27). For two periods he worked at the Siemens Research laboratories (1914-19, 1927-58).

Awards

He was awarded the Royal Society
Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence....
's Hughes medal
Hughes Medal

File:Jj-thomson3.jpgThe Hughes Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications"....
 in 1936 for his discovery of the Schrot effect (spontaneous current variations in high-vacuum discharge tubes, called by him the "Schrot effect": literally, the "small shot effect") in thermionic emission
Thermionic emission

Thermionic emission is the heat-induced flow of charge carriers from a surface or over a potential-energy barrier. This occurs because the thermal energy given to the carrier overcomes the forces restraining it....
 and his invention of the screen-grid tetrode and a superheterodyne method of receiving wireless signals.

In 1964 he received the Werner-von-Siemens-Ring honoring his ground-breaking work on the physical understanding of many phenomena that led to many important technical appliances, among them tube amplifiers and semiconductor
Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a material that has electrical conductivity between those of a Electrical conductor and an electrical insulation; it can vary over that wide range either permanently or dynamically....
s.

Controversy

The invention of superheterodyne is usually attributed to Edwin Armstrong
Edwin Armstrong

Edwin Howard Armstrong was an United States electrical engineer and inventor. Armstrong was the inventor of frequency modulation radio. ...
. However, Schottky published an article in Proc. IRE that he had also invented something similar.

  • 1939: first p-n junction
    P-n junction

    A p-n junction is a junction formed by combining P-type semiconductor and N-type semiconductor semiconductors together in very close contact.The term junction refers to the region where the two regions of the semiconductor meet....


Personal life

His father was mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
 Friedrich Hermann Schottky (1851–1935). His wife was Elizabeth and they had one daughter and two sons. His father was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Zurich
University of Zurich

The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 24,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new Faculty of philosophy....
 in 1882, and he was born 4 years later. The family then moved back to Germany in 1892, where his father took up an appointment at the University of Marburg.

Legacy

Walter Schottky Institute (Germany) was named after him. The Walter H. Schottky prize is named after him.

Books written by Schottky

  • Thermodynamik, Julius Springer, Berlin, Germany, 1929.
  • Physik der Glühelektroden, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 1928.


See also

  • Schottky defect
    Schottky defect

    A Schottky defect is a type of point defect in a crystal lattice named for Walter H. Schottky. The defect forms when oppositely charged ions leave their lattice sites, creating vacancies....


External links

  • Sein Leben und Werk bis ins Jahr 1941. Diepholz; Stuttgart; Berlin: GNT-Verlag, 2008.