Manfred von Ardenne | |
|---|---|
 Ardennec. 1930 | |
| Born | 20 January 1907 |
| Died | 26 May 1997(1997-05-26) (aged 90) |
| Known for | Soviet program of nuclear weapons Scanning electron microscope Scanning transmission electron microscopy Isotope separation Cathode-ray tube Duoplasmatron |
| Awards | Lenin Medal (1970) National Prize (1965, 1958) Stalin Prize (1953, 1947) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Applied Physics |
| Institutions | Technical University Dresden |
Manfred baron von Ardenne (German pronunciation:[ˈmanfʁeːtfɔnaʁˈdɛn]; 20 January 1907 – 26 May 1997) was aGerman researcher,autodidact in applied physics, and aninventor. He took out approximately 600patents in fields includingelectron microscopy,medical technology,nuclear technology,plasma physics, and radio and television technology. From 1928 to 1945, he directed hisself-funded and private research laboratoryForschungslaboratorium für Elektronenphysik, where he developed and invented many techniques used in modern physics.
After theWorld War II, von Ardenne was held inSoviet custody and was one of many of the German nuclear physicists in the formerSoviet program of nuclear weapons, and later honored with theStalin Prize by the formerSoviet Union.
Upon his return to the thenEast Germany, he started anotherprivate engineering firm,Forschungsinstitut Manfred von Ardenne. Ardenne is seen as one of the main inventors of the television.[1][2]
The stormy life of von Ardenne's grandmother,Elisabeth von Ardenne (1853–1952), is said to have been the inspiration forEffi Briest byTheodor Fontane, one of the most famousGermanrealistnovels.
Born in 1907 inHamburg to a wealthy aristocratic family, Ardenne was the oldest of five children. In 1913, Ardenne's father, assigned to theKriegsministerium, moved to Berlin. From Ardenne's earliest youth, he was intrigued by any form of technology, and this was fostered by his parents. Ardenne's early education was at home through private teachers. In Berlin, from 1919, Ardenne attended theRealgymnasium, where he pursued his interests in physics and technology. In a school competition, he submitted models of a camera and an alarm system, for which he was awarded first place.[3][4]
In 1923, at the age of 15, he received his first patent for an electronic tube with multiple (three) systems in a single tube for applications in wireless telegraphy. At this time, Ardenne prematurely left theGymnasium to pursue the development of radio engineering with the entrepreneurSiegmund Loewe, who became his mentor. Loewe built the inexpensive Loewe-Ortsempfänger OE333 with Ardenne's multiple system electronic tube. In 1925, from patent sales and publication income, Ardenne substantially improved the broadband amplifier (resistance-coupled amplifier), which was fundamental to the development of television andradar.[3]
Without anAbitur, because he did not graduate from theGymnasium, Ardenne entered university-level study ofphysics,chemistry, andmathematics. After four semesters, he left his formal studies, due to the inflexibility of the university system, and educated himself; he became anautodidact and devoted himself toapplied physics research.[3]
In 1928, he came into his inheritance with full control as to how it could be spent, and he established his private research laboratoryForschungslaboratorium für Elektronenphysik,[5] in Berlin-Lichterfelde, to conduct his own research on radio and television technology andelectron microscopy. He invented thescanning electron microscope.[6][7] He financed the laboratory with income he received from his inventions and from contracts with other concerns. For example, his research onnuclear physics and high-frequency technology was financed by theReichspostministerium (RPM, Reich Postal Ministry), headed byWilhelm Ohnesorge. M von Ardenne attracted top-notch personnel to work in his facility, such as the nuclear physicistFritz Houtermans, in 1940. Ardenne also conducted research on isotope separation. The small list of equipment Ardenne had in the laboratory is impressive for a private laboratory. For example, when on 10 May 1945 he was visited byNKVD Colonel General V. A. Makhnjov, accompanied by Soviet physicistsIsaak Kikoin,Lev Artsimovich,Georgy Flyorov, and V. V. Migulin (of theRussian Alsos operation), they praised the research being conducted and the equipment, including anelectron microscope, a 60-toncyclotron, and plasma-ionicisotope separation installation.[3][8][9]
At theBerlin Radio Show in August 1931, Ardenne gave the world's first public demonstration of a television system using acathode-ray tube for both transmission and reception. (Ardenne never developed a camera tube, using the CRT instead as aflying-spot scanner to scan slides and film.)[10][11][12] Ardenne achieved his first transmission of television pictures on 24 December 1933, followed by test runs for a public television service in 1934. The world's first electronically scanned television service then started in Berlin in 1935, theFernsehsender Paul Nipkow, culminating in the live broadcast of the1936 Summer Olympic Games from Berlin to public places all over Germany.[3]
In 1937, Ardenne developed thescanning transmission electron microscope. During World War II, he took part in the study and application ofradar.[3]
In 1941 the "Leibniz-Medaille [de]" of the "Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften" was awarded to Ardenne, and in January 1945, he received the title of "Reichsforschungsrat" (Empire Research Advisor).[13]
Von Ardenne,Gustav Hertz, Nobel laureate and director of Research Laboratory II atSiemens,Peter Adolf Thiessen, ordinarius professor at theHumboldt University of Berlin and director of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie (KWIPC) inBerlin-Dahlem, andMax Volmer, ordinarius professor and director of the Physical Chemistry Institute at theBerlin Technische Hochschule, had made a pact. The pact was a pledge that whoever first made contact with the Soviets would speak for the rest. The objectives of their pact were threefold: (1) Prevent plunder of their institutes, (2) Continue their work with minimal interruption, and (3) Protect themselves from prosecution for any political acts of the past.[14] Before the end of World War II, Thiessen, a member of theNSDAP, had Communist contacts.[15] On 27 April 1945, Thiessen arrived at von Ardenne's institute in an armored vehicle with a major of the Soviet Army, who was also a leading Soviet chemist, and they issued Ardenne a protective letter (Schutzbrief).[16]
All four of the pact members were taken to the Soviet Union. Von Ardenne was made head of Institute A,[17] in Sinop,[18][19] a suburb ofSukhumi. In his first meeting withLavrentiy Beria, von Ardenne was asked to participate in theSoviet atomic bomb project, but von Ardenne quickly realized that participation would prohibit his repatriation to Germany, so he suggested isotope enrichment as an objective, which was agreed to.
Goals of Ardenne's Institute A included: (1) Electromagnetic separation of isotopes, for which von Ardenne was the leader, (2) Techniques for manufacturing porous barriers for isotope separation, for which Peter Adolf Thiessen was the leader, and (3) Molecular techniques for separation of uranium isotopes, for whichMax Steenbeck was the leader; Steenbeck was a colleague of Hertz at Siemens.
Others at Institute A includedIngrid Schilling,Alfred Schimohr,Gerhard Siewert, andLudwig Ziehl.[20] By the end of the 1940s, nearly 300 Germans were working at the institute, and they were not the total work force.[21]
Hertz was made head of Institute G,[22] in Agudseri (Agudzery),[18][19] about 10 km southeast ofSukhumi and a suburb of Gul’rips (Gulrip'shi); after 1950, Hertz moved to Moscow. Volmer went to the Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut-9 (NII-9, Scientific Research Institute No. 9),[23] in Moscow; he was given a design bureau to work on the production ofheavy water.[24] In Institute A, Thiessen became leader for developing techniques for manufacturing porous barriers for isotope separation.[25]
At the suggestion of authorities, Ardenne eventually shifted his research from isotope separation to plasma research directed towards controllednuclear fusion.[26]
In 1947, Ardenne was awarded aStalin Prize for his development of a table-top electron microscope. In 1953, before his return to Germany, he was awarded a Stalin Prize, first class, for contributions to theatomic bomb project; the money from this prize, 100,000Rubles, was used to buy the land for his private institute inEast Germany. According to an agreement that Ardenne made with authorities in the Soviet Union soon after his arrival, the equipment which he brought to the Soviet Union from his laboratory in Berlin-Lichterfelde was not to be considered as "reparations" to the Soviet Union. Ardenne took the equipment with him in December 1954 when he returned to the then East Germany.[3][27]
After Ardenne's arrival in theDeutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), he became "Professor für elektrotechnische Sonderprobleme der Kerntechnik" (Professor of electrotechnical special problems of Nuclear Technology) at theTechnische Hochschule Dresden. He also founded his research institute, "Forschungsinstitut Manfred von Ardenne", in Dresden, which with over 500 employees became a unique institution in East Germany as a leading research institute that was privately run. However it collapsed with substantial debts afterGerman reunification in 1991 and re-emerged asVon Ardenne Anlagentechnik GmbH. Ardenne twice won the GDR'sNational Prize.[3]
In 1957, Ardenne became a member of the "Forschungsrat" of the DDR. In that year, he developed an endoradiosonde for medical diagnostics. In 1958, he was awarded the "Nationalpreis" of the DDR; the same year he became a member of the "Friedensrat". In 1959, he received a patent for the electron-beam furnace he developed. In 1961, he was selected a chairman of the "Internationale Gesellschaft für medizinische Elektronik und biomedizinische Technik". From the 1960s, he expanded his medical research and became well known for his oxygen multi-step therapy and cancer multi-step therapy.[3][28][29][30]
In 1963, Ardenne became president of the "Kulturbund" of the DDR. During the period 1963 to 1989, he was a delegate to the "Volkskammer" of the DDR, as well as a member of the "Kulturbund-Fraktion".[3]
After the creation of the Dresden-Hamburg city partnership (1987), Ardenne became anhonorary citizen of Dresden in September 1989.[3]
At the time of his death on 26 May 1997, Ardenne held around 600 patents.[31]
In 2002 the German "Europäische Forschungsgesellschaft Dünne Schichten" ("European Thin-Film Research Society") named an annual prize in von Ardenne's honor.[32]
In 1937, Ardenne married Bettina Bergengruen; they had four children.[3]
Von Ardenne received many honors:[33]
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