Herbert Arthur Stuart
Encyclopedia
Herbert Arthur Stuart was a German
experimental physicist who made contributions in molecular physics research. During World War II, he was director of the experimental physics department at the Technische Hochschule Dresden. From 1955, he was the head of the high polymer physics laboratory at the University of Mainz.
and the University of Göttingen. In 1925, he was awarded his doctorate under James Franck
at the University of Göttingen; his thesis was on resonance
fluorescence
of mercury
vapor. He then went to work and study with Otto Stern
, director of the "Institut für physikalische Chemie" (Institute for Physical Chemistry) at the Universität Hamburg
and then with Richard Gans
, director of the II. Physikalische Institut (Second Physics Institute) at the Albertus-Universität Königsberg
(today, the Immanuel Kant State University of Russia). He completed his Habilitation
in 1928, with an Habilitationsschrift on the temperature dependency of dielectric constant
s in gases and vapors.
and he did research on the Kerr effect
and light scattering
. In 1930, he was Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley
, specializing in molecular structure research. From 1935, he was an untenured ausserordentlicher Professor (extraordinarius professor) and substitute director at the Albertus-Universität Königsberg
. From 1936 to 1939, he substituted in the theoretical physics chair at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
), which had been vacated by Erwin Schrödinger
. From 1939 to 1945, he was an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) and director of the experimental physics department at the Technische Hochschule Dresden (today, the Technische Universität Dresden
). At Dresden, he began studying the viscosity
and both light and electron scattering of macromolecules.
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
, passed in 1933, was substantially directed at academia and judges. The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG, German Physical Society) dragged its feet in the dismissal of Jews for more than five years. It was not until the end of 1938, on the initiation of a petition by Herbert Arthur Stuart and Wilhelm Orthmann
, who were engaged in physics studies (academic) reform, that the DPG asked Jewish members to withdraw their membership.
In 1940, Stuart attended the historic meeting known as the Münchner Religionsgespräche confronting the deutsche Phsyik
movement; while an avid supporter of the National Socialist party line, Stuart was neutral during the dispute. When Adolf Hitler
became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, the concept of deutsche Physik took on more favor and fervor. Deutsche Physik was anti-Semitic and anti-theoretical physics, especially including modern physics, i.e., quantum mechanics
. As applied in the university environment, political factors took priority over the historically applied concept of scholarly ability, even though its two most prominent supporters were Nobel Laureates Philipp Lenard
and Johannes Stark
. During the period in which deutsche Physik was gaining prominence, a foremost concern of the great majority of scientists was to maintain autonomy against political encroachment. Some of the more established scientists, such as Max von Laue
, could demonstrate more autonomy than the younger and less established scientists. This was, in part, due to political organizations, such as the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund (NSDDB, National Socialist German University Lecturers League), whose district leaders had a decisive role in the acceptance of an Habilitationsschrift, which was a prerequisite to attaining the rank of Privatdozent
necessary to becoming a university lecturer. While some with ability joined such organizations out of tactical career considerations, others with ability and adherence to historical academic standards joined these organizations to moderate their activities. This was the case of Wolfgang Finkelnburg
. It was in the summer of 1940 that Finkelnburg became an acting director of the NSDDB at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt. As such, he organized the Münchner Religionsgespräche, which took place on 15 November 1940 and was known as the “Munich Synod.” The Münchner Religionsgespräche was an offensive against deutsche Physik. Finkelnburg invited five representatives to make arguments for theoretical physics and academic decisions based on ability rather than politics: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
, Otto Scherzer
, Georg Joos
, Otto Heckmann, and Hans Kopfermann
. Alfons Bühl
, a supporter of deutsche Physik, invited Harald Volkmann, Bruno Thüring
, Wilhelm Müller, Rudolf Tomaschek
, and Ludwig Wesch. The discussion was led by Gustav Borer, with Herbert Arthur Stuart and Johannes Malsch as observers. While the technical outcome may have been thin, it was a political victory against deutsche Physik.
From 1948 to 1955, Stuart was a physics adviser to the Bayer
Company in Leverkusen
. From 1955, he was an ausserordentlicher Professor of chemical physics and head of the high polymer physics laboratory at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
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...
experimental physicist who made contributions in molecular physics research. During World War II, he was director of the experimental physics department at the Technische Hochschule Dresden. From 1955, he was the head of the high polymer physics laboratory at the University of Mainz.
Education
From 1920 to 1925, Stuart studied at the University of WürzburgUniversity of Würzburg
The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...
and the University of Göttingen. In 1925, he was awarded his doctorate under 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...
at the University of Göttingen; his thesis was on resonance
Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...
fluorescence
Fluorescence
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation of a different wavelength. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation...
of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
vapor. He then went to work and study with Otto Stern
Otto Stern
Otto Stern was a German physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.-Biography:Stern was born in Sohrau, now Żory in the German Empire's Kingdom of Prussia and studied at Breslau, now Wrocław in Lower Silesia....
, director of the "Institut für physikalische Chemie" (Institute for Physical Chemistry) at the Universität Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
and then with Richard Gans
Richard Gans
Richard Martin Gans , German of Jewish origin, born in Hamburg, was the physicist who founded the Physics Institute of the National University of La Plata, Argentina...
, director of the II. Physikalische Institut (Second Physics Institute) at the Albertus-Universität Königsberg
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as second Protestant academy by Duke Albert of Prussia, and was commonly known as the Albertina....
(today, the Immanuel Kant State University of Russia). He completed his Habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
in 1928, with an Habilitationsschrift on the temperature dependency of dielectric constant
Dielectric constant
The relative permittivity of a material under given conditions reflects the extent to which it concentrates electrostatic lines of flux. In technical terms, it is the ratio of the amount of electrical energy stored in a material by an applied voltage, relative to that stored in a vacuum...
s in gases and vapors.
Career
From 1928, Stuart was a PrivatdozentPrivatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
and he did research on the Kerr effect
Kerr effect
The Kerr effect, also called the quadratic electro-optic effect , is a change in the refractive index of a material in response to an applied electric field. The Kerr effect is distinct from the Pockels effect in that the induced index change is directly proportional to the square of the electric...
and light scattering
Scattering
Scattering is a general physical process where some forms of radiation, such as light, sound, or moving particles, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more localized non-uniformities in the medium through which they pass. In conventional use, this also includes deviation of...
. In 1930, he was Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, specializing in molecular structure research. From 1935, he was an untenured ausserordentlicher Professor (extraordinarius professor) and substitute director at the Albertus-Universität Königsberg
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as second Protestant academy by Duke Albert of Prussia, and was commonly known as the Albertina....
. From 1936 to 1939, he substituted in the theoretical physics chair at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Humboldt 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...
), which had been vacated by Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933...
. From 1939 to 1945, he was an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) and director of the experimental physics department at the Technische Hochschule Dresden (today, the Technische Universität Dresden
Dresden University of Technology
The Technische Universität Dresden is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony and one of the 10 largest universities in Germany with 36,066 students...
). At Dresden, he began studying the viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear or tensile stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher viscosity...
and both light and electron scattering of macromolecules.
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-establish the Civil Service, was a law passed by the National Socialist regime on April 7, 1933, two months after Adolf...
, passed in 1933, was substantially directed at academia and judges. The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG, German Physical Society) dragged its feet in the dismissal of Jews for more than five years. It was not until the end of 1938, on the initiation of a petition by Herbert Arthur Stuart and Wilhelm Orthmann
Wilhelm Orthmann
Wilhelm Orthmann was a German physicist. He was director of the physico-technical department of the Industrial College of Berlin...
, who were engaged in physics studies (academic) reform, that the DPG asked Jewish members to withdraw their membership.
In 1940, Stuart attended the historic meeting known as the Münchner Religionsgespräche confronting the deutsche Phsyik
Deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik or Aryan Physics was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s against the work of Albert Einstein, labeled "Jewish Physics"...
movement; while an avid supporter of the National Socialist party line, Stuart was neutral during the dispute. When Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, the concept of deutsche Physik took on more favor and fervor. Deutsche Physik was anti-Semitic and anti-theoretical physics, especially including modern physics, i.e., quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
. As applied in the university environment, political factors took priority over the historically applied concept of scholarly ability, even though its two most prominent supporters were Nobel Laureates Philipp Lenard
Philipp Lenard
Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard , known in Hungarian as Lénárd Fülöp Eduárd Antal, was a Hungarian - German physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1905 for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties...
and Johannes Stark
Johannes Stark
Johannes Stark was a German physicist, and Physics Nobel Prize laureate who was closely involved with the Deutsche Physik movement under the Nazi regime.-Early years:...
. During the period in which deutsche Physik was gaining prominence, a foremost concern of the great majority of scientists was to maintain autonomy against political encroachment. Some of the more established scientists, such as 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...
, could demonstrate more autonomy than the younger and less established scientists. This was, in part, due to political organizations, such as the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund (NSDDB, National Socialist German University Lecturers League), whose district leaders had a decisive role in the acceptance of an Habilitationsschrift, which was a prerequisite to attaining the rank of Privatdozent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
necessary to becoming a university lecturer. While some with ability joined such organizations out of tactical career considerations, others with ability and adherence to historical academic standards joined these organizations to moderate their activities. This was the case of Wolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Karl Ernst Finkelnburg was a German physicist who made contributions to spectroscopy, atomic physics, the structure of matter, and high-temperature arc discharges...
. It was in the summer of 1940 that Finkelnburg became an acting director of the NSDDB at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt. As such, he organized the Münchner Religionsgespräche, which took place on 15 November 1940 and was known as the “Munich Synod.” The Münchner Religionsgespräche was an offensive against deutsche Physik. Finkelnburg invited five representatives to make arguments for theoretical physics and academic decisions based on ability rather than politics: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the research team which performed nuclear research in Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership...
, Otto Scherzer
Otto Scherzer
Otto Scherzer was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions to electron microscopy.-Education:...
, Georg Joos
Georg Joos
Georg Jakob Christof Joos was a German theoretical physicist. He wrote Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, first published in 1932 and one of the most influential theoretical physics textbooks of the 20th Century.-Education:Joos began his higher education in 1912 at the Technische Hochschule...
, Otto Heckmann, and Hans Kopfermann
Hans Kopfermann
Hans Kopfermann was a German atomic and nuclear physicist. He devoted his entire career to spectroscopic investigations, and he did pioneering work in measuring nuclear spin...
. Alfons Bühl
Alfons Bühl
Alfons Bühl was a German physicist. From 1934 to 1945, he was director of the physics department at the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe.-Education:...
, a supporter of deutsche Physik, invited Harald Volkmann, Bruno Thüring
Bruno Thüring
Bruno Jakob Thüring was a German physicist and astronomer.Thüring studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy at the University of Munich and received his doctorate in 1928, under Alexander Wilkens and Arnold Sommerfeld...
, Wilhelm Müller, Rudolf Tomaschek
Rudolf Tomaschek
Rudolf Karl Anton Tomaschek was a German experimental physicist. His scientific efforts included work on phosphorescence, fluorescence, and gravitation. Tomaschek was a supporter of deutsche Physik, which resulted in his suspension from his university posts after World War II...
, and Ludwig Wesch. The discussion was led by Gustav Borer, with Herbert Arthur Stuart and Johannes Malsch as observers. While the technical outcome may have been thin, it was a political victory against deutsche Physik.
From 1948 to 1955, Stuart was a physics adviser to the Bayer
Bayer
Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...
Company in Leverkusen
Leverkusen
Leverkusen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the South, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the North is the state capital Düsseldorf....
. From 1955, he was an ausserordentlicher Professor of chemical physics and head of the high polymer physics laboratory at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
Literature by Stuart
- H. A. Stuart Über den Temperaturverlauf der Dielektrizitätskonstanten einiger Gase bei verschiedenen Drucken, Bemerkung zu der gleichnamigen Arbeit von Magdalene Forró, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 48, Issue 9-10, p. 747 (1928)
- H. A. Stuart Über den Kerreffekt an Gasen und Dämfen. I. Methode und Ergebnisse für SO2, CH3Cl, CH3Br, C2H5Cl und (CH3)2O, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 59, p. 13 (1929)
- H. A. Stuart and H. Volkmann Experimentelle Untersuchungen des elektrischen Kerreffekts an Gasen und Dämpfen bei höheren Temperaturen, Annalen der Physik Volume 410, Issue 2, pp. 121–149 (1933)
- Herbert Arthur Stuart Bedeutung der Physik und Aufgaben des Physiker, Deutsche Mathematik Volume 4, 116 – 117 (1939), as cited in Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, p. XC; see Reference [859]. This was Stuart’s report on an initiative to reform physics education presented at the first Mathematikerlager (German mathematics camp) organized by the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund (NSDDB, National Socialist German University Lecturers League).
- Herbert Stuart Erforschung der Elektronenhüllen und der Molekülgestalt mit anderen Methoden in Hans Kopfermann (editor) Physics of the electron shells (The American FIAT review of German science, 1939-1945, Volume 12) (Office of Military Government for Germany Field Information Agencies, Technical, 1948) pp. 69 – 91.