Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG
Encyclopedia
The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) is a science research institute located at the heart of the academic district of Dahlem
, in Berlin
, Germany
.
The original Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Elektrochemistry, founded in 1911, was incorporated in the Max Planck Society
and simultaneously renamed for its first director, Fritz Haber
, in 1953.
The research topics covered throughout the history of the institute include chemical kinetics
and reaction dynamics
, colloid chemistry, atomic physics
, spectroscopy
, surface chemistry and surface physics, chemical physics
and molecular physics
, theoretical chemistry
, and materials science
.
During World War I and World War II, the research of the institute was directed more or less towards Germany's military needs.
To the illustrious past members of the Institute belong Herbert Freundlich
, James Franck
, Paul Friedlander
, Rudolf Ladenburg
, Michael Polanyi
, Eugene Wigner, Ladislaus Farkas, Hartmut Kallmann
, Otto Hahn
, Robert Havemann
, Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer
, Iwan N. Stranski, Ernst Ruska
, Max von Laue
, Gerhard Borrmann
, Rudolf Brill, Kurt Moliere, Jochen Block, Heinz Gerischer
, Rolf Hosemann, Kurt Ueberreiter, Alexander Bradshaw
, Elmar Zeitler, and Gerhard Ertl
.
Nobel Prize laureate
s affiliated with the institute include Max von Laue
(1914), Fritz Haber
(1918), James Franck
(1925), Otto Hahn
(1944), Eugene Wigner (1963), Ernst Ruska
(1986), Gerhard Ertl
(2007).
Dahlem (Berlin)
Dahlem is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. Dahlem is one of the most affluent parts of the city and home to the main campus of the Free University of Berlin with the...
, in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
The original Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Elektrochemistry, founded in 1911, was incorporated in the Max Planck Society
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes publicly funded by the federal and the 16 state governments of Germany....
and simultaneously renamed for its first director, Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber was a German chemist, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for synthesizing ammonia, important for fertilizers and explosives. Haber, along with Max Born, proposed the Born–Haber cycle as a method for evaluating the lattice energy of an ionic solid...
, in 1953.
The research topics covered throughout the history of the institute include chemical kinetics
Chemical kinetics
Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the study of rates of chemical processes. Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how different experimental conditions can influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition...
and reaction dynamics
Reaction dynamics
Reaction dynamics is a field within physical chemistry, studying why chemical reactions occur, how to predict their behavior, and how to control them...
, colloid chemistry, atomic physics
Atomic physics
Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and...
, spectroscopy
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
, surface chemistry and surface physics, chemical physics
Chemical physics
Chemical physics is a subdiscipline of chemistry and physics that investigates physicochemical phenomena using techniques from atomic and molecular physics and condensed matter physics; it is the branch of physics that studies chemical processes from the point of view of physics...
and molecular physics
Molecular physics
Molecular physics is the study of the physical properties of molecules, the chemical bonds between atoms as well as the molecular dynamics. Its most important experimental techniques are the various types of spectroscopy...
, theoretical chemistry
Theoretical chemistry
Theoretical chemistry seeks to provide theories that explain chemical observations. Often, it uses mathematical and computational methods that, at times, require advanced knowledge. Quantum chemistry, the application of quantum mechanics to the understanding of valency, is a major component of...
, and materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
.
During World War I and World War II, the research of the institute was directed more or less towards Germany's military needs.
To the illustrious past members of the Institute belong Herbert Freundlich
Herbert Freundlich
Herbert Max Finlay Freundlich FRS was a German chemist.His father was Jewish descendable German, and his mother was from Scotland...
, James Franck
James Franck
James Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
, Paul Friedlander
Paul Friedländer
Paul Friedländer may refer to:* Paul Friedlaender * Paul Friedländer...
, Rudolf Ladenburg
Rudolf Ladenburg
Rudolf Walter Ladenburg was a German atomic physicist. He emigrated from Germany as early as 1932 and became a Brackett Research Professor at Princeton University...
, Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi, FRS was a Hungarian–British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and the theory of knowledge...
, Eugene Wigner, Ladislaus Farkas, Hartmut Kallmann
Hartmut Kallmann
Harmut Kallmann was a German physicist. He is known for his work on the scintillation counter for the detection of gamma rays.-Biography:...
, Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
, Robert Havemann
Robert Havemann
Robert Havemann was a chemist, and an East German dissident.He studied chemistry in Berlin and Munich from 1929 to 1933, and then later received a doctorate in physical chemistry from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute....
, Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer
Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer
-Life:Born in Breslau, he was an older brother of martyred theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.Bonhoeffer studied from 1918 in Tübingen and Berlin, finishing his PhD in 1922 in Berlin with Walther Nernst. From 1923 to 1930 he was an assistant with Fritz Haber at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical...
, Iwan N. Stranski, Ernst Ruska
Ernst Ruska
Ernst August Friedrich Ruska was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for his work in electron optics, including the design of the first electron microscope.Ruska was born in Heidelberg...
, Max von Laue
Max von Laue
Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals...
, Gerhard Borrmann
Gerhard Borrmann
Gerhard Borrmann was a German physicist.He was born in Diedenhofen, then part of Germany, and received his early education there. He continued his secondary school at Gießen, where he apprenticed at a steel mill. After studying at the Technische Universität München and Technische Hochschule...
, Rudolf Brill, Kurt Moliere, Jochen Block, Heinz Gerischer
Heinz Gerischer
Heinz Gerischer was a German chemist and director of the Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG until 1986.He was the thesis advisor of the later Nobel Laureate Gerhard Ertl....
, Rolf Hosemann, Kurt Ueberreiter, Alexander Bradshaw
Alexander Bradshaw
Alexander Marian Bradshaw CBE, FRS is a British physicist. He was Scientific Director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, from 1999 to 2008.-Life:...
, Elmar Zeitler, and Gerhard Ertl
Gerhard Ertl
Gerhard Ertl is a German physicist and a Professor emeritus at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin, Germany...
.
Nobel Prize laureate
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
s affiliated with the institute include Max von Laue
Max von Laue
Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals...
(1914), Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber was a German chemist, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for synthesizing ammonia, important for fertilizers and explosives. Haber, along with Max Born, proposed the Born–Haber cycle as a method for evaluating the lattice energy of an ionic solid...
(1918), James Franck
James Franck
James Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
(1925), Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
(1944), Eugene Wigner (1963), Ernst Ruska
Ernst Ruska
Ernst August Friedrich Ruska was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for his work in electron optics, including the design of the first electron microscope.Ruska was born in Heidelberg...
(1986), Gerhard Ertl
Gerhard Ertl
Gerhard Ertl is a German physicist and a Professor emeritus at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin, Germany...
(2007).