Friedrich Bopp | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1909-12-27)27 December 1909 |
| Died | 14 November 1987(1987-11-14) (aged 77) |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions | Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich |
| Doctoral advisor | Fritz Sauter |
| Doctoral students | Friedrich L. Bauer Rudolf Haag Klaus Samelson Gustav Max Obermair |
Friedrich Arnold "Fritz"Bopp (27 December 1909 – 14 November 1987) was a Germantheoretical physicist who contributed tonuclear physics andquantum field theory. He worked at theKaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik and with theUranverein. He was a professor at theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich and a President of theDeutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. He signed theGöttingen Manifesto.
From 1929 to 1934, Bopp studied physics at theGoethe University Frankfurt and theUniversity of Göttingen. He completed hisDiplom thesis in 1933 under the mathematicianHermann Weyl. In 1934, he became anAssistant (Assistant) at Göttingen. In 1937, Bopp completed his doctorate on the subject ofCompton scattering under the physicistFritz Sauter. From 1936 to 1941, he was a teaching assistant atBreslau University. In 1941, Bopp completed hisHabilitationsschrift underErwin Fues on the subject of a consistentfield theory of theelectron.[1]
From 1941 to 1947, Bopp was a staff scientist at theKaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik (KWIP, after World War II reorganized and renamed theMax Planck Institute for Physics), located inBerlin-Dahlem. He worked on theGerman nuclear energy project; collaborators on aspects of this project were for a time known collectively as theUranverein (Uranium Club). In 1944, when most of the KWIP was evacuated toHechingen in Southern Germany due to air raids on Berlin, he went there too, and he was the Institute’s Deputy Director there. When the AmericanAlsos Mission evacuated Hechingen andHaigerloch, near the end ofWorld War II, French armed forces occupied Hechingen. Bopp did not get along with them and described the initial French policy objectives towards the KWIP as exploitation, forced evacuation to France, and seizure of documents and equipment.[2] In order to put pressure on Bopp to evacuate the KWIP to France, the French Naval Commission imprisoned him for five days and threatened him with further imprisonment if he did not cooperate in the evacuation. During his imprisonment, thespectroscopist Hermann Schüler, who had a better relationship with the French, persuaded the French to appoint him as Deputy Director of the KWIP. This incident caused tension between the physicists and spectroscopists at the KWIP and within its umbrella organization theKaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft (Kaiser Wilhelm Society).[1][3][4]
From 1946 to 1947, Bopp was also a teaching assistant at theUniversity of Tübingen.[1]
From 1947 to 1950, Bopp was an extraordinarius professor and in 1950 an ordinarius professor of theoretical physics at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich. His main area of interest wasquantum field theory. In 1954, he was a member of the board of trustees of the Institute.[1]
During 1956 and 1957, Bopp was a member of theArbeitskreis Kernphysik (Nuclear Physics Working Group) of theFachkommission II „Forschung und Nachwuchs“ (Commission II “Research and Growth”) of theDeutschen Atomkommission (DAtK, German Atomic Energy Commission). Other members of the Nuclear Physics Working Group in both 1956 and 1957 were:Werner Heisenberg (chairman),Hans Kopfermann (vice-chairman),Walther Bothe,Wolfgang Gentner,Otto Haxel,Willibald Jentschke,Heinz Maier-Leibnitz,Josef Mattauch,Wolfgang Riezler [de],Wilhelm Walcher, andCarl Friedrich von Weizsäcker.Wolfgang Paul was also a member of the group during 1957.[5]
From 1964 to 1965, Bopp was the President of theDeutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.[1][6]
Bopp was one of the 18 signers of theGöttinger Manifest in 1957, which was opposed to the rearming of Germany with nuclear weapons.[1]
The great theoretical physicist,Arnold Sommerfeld, who educated and nurtured a new generation of physicists in the 1920s and 1930s, expanded his lecture notes into the six-volumeVorlesungen über theoretische Physik (Lectures on Theoretical Physics). Sommerfeld died in 1951 as the result of a traffic accident while walking with his grandchildren. He had published all but Volume 5 of his lectures. Bopp andJosef Meixner edited and completed this volume and put it into publication. Bopp and Meixner also edited and supplemented other volumes in the series and published new editions of volumes within the series.
The following reports were published inKernphysikalische Forschungsberichte (Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the GermanUranverein. The reports were classified "Geheime Reichssache" ("secret", the highest German classification level at the time), they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the AlliedOperation Alsos and sent to theUnited States Atomic Energy Commission for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports were available at the library of theKarlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and at theAmerican Institute of Physics.[7][8] In 1978, the Karlsruhe documents were transferred to theDeutsches Museum, where they are now available in digital form.[9]
