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 focused on the Sun, and for that purpose he initiated construction of several solar telescopes and founded the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics.
Life and work
Kiepenheuer was born 1910 in Weimar, Germany, as a son of the publisher Gustav Kiepenheuer. After the divorce of his parents in 1923 he stayed with his mother. In 1929, he began his studies of physics, astronomy and mathematics at the Berlin Institute of Technology and the University of Berlin. He spent one semester in Paris where he visited 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 an unsuccessful attempt at Jungfraujoch, he realized that the elevation of 3,454 meters was insufficient for the measurement. The balloon-carried instruments of Erich Regener proved to be more useful and Kiepenheuer was able to measure the UV radiation of the sun at 27 km height. Kiepenheuer also improved aerial cameras and tested them during the World War II in high-altitude flights over the United Kingdom. Until the end of the war, Kiepenheuer worked under supervision of Johannes Plendl. The effect of solar activity on the shortwave communication stimulated the Sun observations. For this purpose, Germany built a network of solar observatories and also used the already existing observatories in the occupied areas of Europe. By 1942, the network spanned from Simeiz in Crimea on the east to Paris on the west, and from Tromsö, Norway on the north to Syracuse, Sicily on the south. After the war, Kiepenheuer benefited from his close connections with researchers all over Europe benefited and managed to slowly establish a scientific network for solar observations.[1]
Together with the solar telescopes at the Schauinsland, Kiepenheuer established the Fraunhofer Institut near Freiburg in 1943.[2] He was able to keep the solar telescopes in Schauinsland after the Second World War. In 1954, he opened a new solar telescope on the Italian island Capri.[2] The Fraunhofer institute was named after the physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer and had no connection to the institutes of the Fraunhofer Society, which were independently named after the same person. Kiepenheuer served as the head of the institute until his death in 1975. He helped establishing a collaboration between several European countries to build a European solar observatory. He was also active in the development of new telescopes. After his death, a new telescope was built on the Spanish island Tenerife, and therefore, the outdated observatory 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 c Mattig, W. (1976). "Nachrufe: Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer". Mitteilungen der Astronomischen Gesellschaft. 38: 11–13. Bibcode:1976MitAG..38...11M.
- ^ "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.