Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer
Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 10, 1910 |
| Died | May 23, 1975 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Technology Munich |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Fraunhofer-Institut 1943–1975 |
| Doctoral advisor | Max von Laue |
Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer, (November 10, 1910 – May 23, 1975) was a German astronomer and astrophysicist. His research focus was the sun, for that purpose he initiated the building of several solar telescopes. The foundation of the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics and the Spektrostratoskop a balloon borne solar telescope were his best known achievements.
Life and work
Kiepenheuer was born 1910 in Weimar as son of the publisher Gustav Kiepenheuer. After the divorce of his parents in 1923 he stayed with his mother. 1929 he started studying at the Berlin Institute of Technology and at the University of Berlin physics astronomy and mathematics. He spent one semester in Paris where he worked at the Meudon observatory. He later worked at the Göttingen Observatory where he tried to develop a method to measure the UV radiation of the sun. After a unsuccessful try at the Jungfraujoch he subsequently discovery that the hight of 3454 meters was still not sufficient for the measurement. The balloon borne instruments of Erich Regener proved to be more useful and Kiepenheuer was able to measure the UV radiation of the sun in 27 km hight. Kiepenheuer also improved aerial camera and also tested them during the war in high altitude flights over the United Kingdom. Kiepenheuer worked under Johannes Plendl till the end of the war. The observation of the sun became necessary because the solar activity had a large influence on the shortwave communication and therefore a network of solar observatories was built or already existing observatories in the occupied areas of Europe were used. In 1942 the network consisted of several observatories spanning from Simeiz at the Krim in the east to Paris in the west and from Tromsö, Norway in the north to Syracuse, Sicily in the south. The close connections to researchers all over Europe benefited Kiepenheuer after the war and he was able to slowly establish a network for solar observations.[1]
Together with the solar telescopes at the Schauinsland Kiepenheuer established the Fraunhofer-Institut near Freiburg in 1943. He was able to keep the solar telescopes at the Schauinsland after the Second World War. In 1954 he was able to open a new solar telescope on the Italian island Capri.[2] The institute is named after the physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer and has no connection to the institutes of the Fraunhofer Society, which were independently named after the same person. He was head of the institute until his death in 1975. Kiepenheuer was able help to establish a group of European countries to built a European solar observatory. He was active in the search for the new telescope. After his death a new telescope was built on the Spanish island Tenerife and the after completion of the new telescope the outpost at Capri was closed in 1988..[2][3]
Honors
In 1978 his institute was renamed to Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics[4]
References
- ^ P. Seiler, Michael (2007). "Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer (1910–1975)". Kommandosache "Sonnengott": Geschichte der deutschen Sonnenforschung im Dritten Reich und unter alliierter Besatzung. Harri Deutsch Verlag. pp. 56–65. ISBN 9783817117970.
- ^ a b Mattig, W. (1976). "Nachrufe: Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer". Mitteilungen der Astronomischen Gesellschaft. 38: 11–13. Bibcode:1976MitAG..38...11M.
{{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik" (PDF).
- ^ Schröter, E. H. (1978). "Fraunhofer-Institut mit den Observatorien Schauinsland und Anacapri. Jahresbericht für 1977". Mitteilungen der Astronomischen Gesellschaft. 44: 80–88. Bibcode:1978MitAG..44...80S.
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