Gottfried von Droste
Encyclopedia
Gottfried von Droste , a.k.a. Gottfried von Droste zu Vischering-Padberg, was a German
physical chemist. He worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Chemistry. He independently predicted that nuclear fission would release a large amount of energy. During World War II, he participated in the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club. In the latter years of the war, he worked at the Reich’s University of Strassburg. After the war, he worked at the Federal Physical and Technical Institute and also held a position at the Technical University of Braunschweig.
). He received his doctorate in 1933, from the University of Berlin. His thesis advisor was Lise Meitner
, who was an adjunct professor (nichtbeamteter ausserordentlicher Professor) at the University of Berlin and directed doctoral research in her own section at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie (KWIC, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, after WW II the Max Planck Institut für Chemie - Otto Hahn Institut
), in Berlin-Dahlem
.
(SA). From 1937, he was a member of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, National Socialist Workers Party).
From 1933 to 1942, von Droste was a scientific assistant (Mitarbeiter) at the KWIC, where Otto Hahn
was the director and Lise Meitner
headed a department. While at the KWIC, Droste contributed to the German nuclear energy project
, also known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club).
In December 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn
and Fritz Strassmann
sent a manuscript to Naturwissenschaften
reporting they had detected the element barium
after bombarding uranium
with neutrons; simultaneously, they communicated these results to Lise Meitner
, who had in July of that year fled to The Netherlands and then went to Sweden
. Meitner, and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch
, correctly interpreted these results as being nuclear fission
. Frisch confirmed this experimentally on 13 January 1939. Droste and Siegfried Flügge
, an assistant to Hahn, independently also predicted a large energy release from nuclear fission
.
From 1942 to 1944, von Droste was at the Reichsuniversität Straßburg
(Reich’s University of Strassburg), which had been founded in 1941, in German occupied France.
He held his position there until 1944, when the Allied military forces liberated Strasbourg from German occupation. From 1944 to 1945, he was at Walther Bothe’s
Institut für Physik (Institute for Physics) of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung (KWImF, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research; today, the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung
), in Heidelberg
.
After World War II
, the denazification
process began. When Droste faced the proceedings, he turned to Werner Heisenberg
, a prominent member of the Uranverein, for testamentary support – a document known as a Persilschein (whitewash certificate). Heisenberg was a particularly powerful writer of these documents, as he had never been a member of the NSDAP, he had publicly clashed with the NSDAP and the Schutzstaffel
(SS), and he had been appointed by the British occupation authorities to the chair for theoretical physics and the directorship of the Max-Planck Institut für Physik
then in Göttingen. Heisenberg wrote the document. In February 1947, Droste also requested support from Meitner; for complex reasons, she provided a document carefully vouching for his behavior without commenting on his character. Hahn too provided a Persilschein for von Droste, but Hahn also sent a critical letter to von Droste.
From 1946 to 1951, von Droste was in the Physics Department of the University of Heidelberg. From 1951 until his retirement in 1973, he was employed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
(PTB, Federal Physical and Technical Institute), in Braunschweig
. He also held a position at the Technische Universität Braunschweig from 1967 to 1972 and was Regierungsdirektor (Government Director) from 1951 to 1973.
(Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein
. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos
and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission
for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics
.
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...
physical chemist. He worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Chemistry. He independently predicted that nuclear fission would release a large amount of energy. During World War II, he participated in the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club. In the latter years of the war, he worked at the Reich’s University of Strassburg. After the war, he worked at the Federal Physical and Technical Institute and also held a position at the Technical University of Braunschweig.
Education
From 1926 to 1933, Droste studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (later, the Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinHumboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
). He received his doctorate in 1933, from the University of Berlin. His thesis advisor was Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
, who was an adjunct professor (nichtbeamteter ausserordentlicher Professor) at the University of Berlin and directed doctoral research in her own section at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie (KWIC, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, after WW II the Max Planck Institut für Chemie - Otto Hahn Institut
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry is a scientific research institute under the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.Basic research in chemistry and related subjects is carried out at the four departments of the institute. The departments are independently led by their Directors.-The departments:The...
), in Berlin-Dahlem
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...
.
Career
From 1933, von Droste was a member of the SturmabteilungSturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(SA). From 1937, he was a member of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, National Socialist Workers Party).
From 1933 to 1942, von Droste was a scientific assistant (Mitarbeiter) at the KWIC, where 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...
was the director and Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
headed a department. While at the KWIC, Droste contributed to the German nuclear energy project
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
, also known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club).
In December 1938, the German chemists 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...
and Fritz Strassmann
Fritz Strassmann
Friedrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Strassmann was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in 1938, identified barium in the residue after bombarding uranium with neutrons, which led to the interpretation of their results as being from nuclear fission...
sent a manuscript to Naturwissenschaften
Die Naturwissenschaften
Naturwissenschaften is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer on behalf of several learned societies.- History :...
reporting they had detected the element barium
Barium
Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in Group 2, a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. Barium is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts with...
after bombarding uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
with neutrons; simultaneously, they communicated these results to Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
, who had in July of that year fled to The Netherlands and then went to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Meitner, and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch
Otto Robert Frisch
Otto Robert Frisch , Austrian-British physicist. With his collaborator Rudolf Peierls he designed the first theoretical mechanism for the detonation of an atomic bomb in 1940.- Overview :...
, correctly interpreted these results as being nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
. Frisch confirmed this experimentally on 13 January 1939. Droste and Siegfried Flügge
Siegfried Flügge
Siegfried Flügge was a German theoretical physicist and made contributions to nuclear physics. He worked at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Chemie and worked in the German Uranverein...
, an assistant to Hahn, independently also predicted a large energy release from nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
.
From 1942 to 1944, von Droste was at the Reichsuniversität Straßburg
Reichsuniversität Straßburg
The Reichsuniversität Straßburg was founded 1941 by the National Socialists in Alsace while the regular University of Strasbourg had moved to Clermont-Ferrand since 1940. The purpose was to create a continuity to the German character of the German Imperial University of Strasbourg, that had been...
(Reich’s University of Strassburg), which had been founded in 1941, in German occupied France.
He held his position there until 1944, when the Allied military forces liberated Strasbourg from German occupation. From 1944 to 1945, he was at Walther Bothe’s
Walther Bothe
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 with Max Born....
Institut für Physik (Institute for Physics) of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für medizinische Forschung (KWImF, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research; today, the Max-Planck Institut für medizinische Forschung
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, is a facility of the Max Planck Society for basic medical research. Since its foundation, six Nobel Prize laureates worked at the Institute: Otto Fritz Meyerhof , Richard Kuhn , Walther Bothe , André Michel Lwoff , Rudolf...
), in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
process began. When Droste faced the proceedings, he turned to Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
, a prominent member of the Uranverein, for testamentary support – a document known as a Persilschein (whitewash certificate). Heisenberg was a particularly powerful writer of these documents, as he had never been a member of the NSDAP, he had publicly clashed with the NSDAP and the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
(SS), and he had been appointed by the British occupation authorities to the chair for theoretical physics and the directorship of the Max-Planck Institut für Physik
Max Planck Institute for Physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics is a physics institute in Munich, Germany that specializes in High Energy Physics and Astroparticle physics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institute, after its first director.It was founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm...
then in Göttingen. Heisenberg wrote the document. In February 1947, Droste also requested support from Meitner; for complex reasons, she provided a document carefully vouching for his behavior without commenting on his character. Hahn too provided a Persilschein for von Droste, but Hahn also sent a critical letter to von Droste.
From 1946 to 1951, von Droste was in the Physics Department of the University of Heidelberg. From 1951 until his retirement in 1973, he was employed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt is based in Braunschweig and Berlin. It is the national institute for natural and engineering sciences and the highest technical authority for metrology and physical safety engineering in Germany....
(PTB, Federal Physical and Technical Institute), in Braunschweig
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
. He also held a position at the Technische Universität Braunschweig from 1967 to 1972 and was Regierungsdirektor (Government Director) from 1951 to 1973.
Internal reports
The following reports were published in Kernphysikalische ForschungsberichteKernphysikalische Forschungsberichte
Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte was an internal publication of the German Uranverein, which was initiated under the Heereswaffenamt in 1939; in 1942, supervision of the Uranverein was turned over to the Reichsforschungsrat under the Reichserziehungsministerium...
(Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos
Operation Alsos
Operation Alsos was an effort at the end of World War II by the Allies , branched off from the Manhattan Project, to investigate the German nuclear energy project, seize German nuclear resources, materials and personnel to further American research and to prevent their capture by the Soviets, and...
and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics
American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics promotes science, the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies...
.
- Gottfried von Droste Bericht über einen Versuch mit 2t Natriumuranat G-24 (24 September 1940)
- Gottfried von Droste Über den Spaltprozess bei Präparat 38 G-78 (1941)
Selected Literature by Droste
- Gottfried von Droste Über die Anzahl der Ausschläge eines Zählrohres bei Bestrahlung mit γ-Strahlen verschiedener Wellenlänge, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 100, Numbers 9-10, 529-533 (1936). Received on 15 March 1936. The author was identified as being at the physikalisch-radioaktive Abteilung, Kaiser Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie, Berlin-Dahlem.
- Siegfried FlüggeSiegfried FlüggeSiegfried Flügge was a German theoretical physicist and made contributions to nuclear physics. He worked at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Chemie and worked in the German Uranverein...
and Gottfried von Droste Energetische Betrachtungen zu der Entstehung von Barium bei der Neutronenbestrahlung von Uran, Zeitschrift für Physikalische ChemieZeitschrift für Physikalische ChemieZeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie is a physical chemistry journal published in Germany. Its name literally means "Journal of Physical Chemistry", but its official English-language subtitle is "International journal of research in physical chemistry and chemical physics". Its emphasis is on...
B Volume 4, 274–280 (1939). Received on 22 January 1939.
- Gottfried von Droste and Hermann Reddemann Über die beim Zerspalten des Urankerns auftrentnden Neutronen, Die NaturwissenschaftenDie NaturwissenschaftenNaturwissenschaften is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer on behalf of several learned societies.- History :...
Volume 27, 371-372 (1939)