Astrophysics, Astronomy and Space Sciences in the History of the Max Planck Society

Front matter

HISTORY OF MODERN SCIENCE

ASTROPHYSICS, ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES IN THE HISTORY OF THE MAX PLANCK SOCIETY

LUISA BONOLIS AND JUAN-ANDRES LEON

Contents

Preface by Jürgen Renn VII Foreword by Reinhard Genzel 1x Acknowledgments xII

Oral History Interviews XIV

List of Illustrations xIx

Preface

This book was written as part of a research project in the context of a major research program on the history of the Max Planck Society (MPG) directed by Jürgen Kocka, Carsten Reinhardt, and myself, with Florian Schmaltz as project manager. It covers the history of the MPG from its beginnings in 1948 up to 2002 and brings together the perspectives of intellectual, institutional, and contemporary history. The project was generously funded by the MPG and involved a massive effort to digitize historical documents that could be analyzed using innovative digital humanities tools. Consequently, the coevolution of research clusters and institutional structures of more than 100 institutes could be closely followed for more than half a century. This undertaking enabled new insights into the dynamic history of one of Germany’s leading research organizations and also into the interaction between science and society in the second half of the twentieth century. The results of the project will be published in a larger synthesis volume, as well as in research papers and monographic studies.

This book by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon is one such study and embodies the overall aims of the project on the history of the MPG in an exemplary way. It reveals a fascinating history of powerful scientific subjects, of ambitious efforts to found institutions, but also of conflicts at all levels—from the institutional to the political. Beyond a careful examination of historical documents, the book also owes much to interviews and interactions with some of the key players in this history. Taking into account these personal views and yet still maintaining a sober, objective, and sometimes critical perspective is one of the main challenges in tackling an investigation of such recent history. In my view, Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon have mastered this challenge in an exemplary way. Their book will be a standard reference for the history of the astro- and space sciences in the MPG for many years to come.

Today astronomy, astrophysics, and the space sciences play a leading role in the society and its practitioners are among the foremost global players in their fields. This standing is the culmination of a process initiated in the aftermath of the Second World War, from rather modest beginnings. What were the origins of this extraordinary development? How did the mpc deal with the fact that the center of gravity of physics had shifted to the U.S.? What enabled it to nevertheless take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Space Age? Which opportunities were missed and why? Did the mpg follow a strategy of expansion or did this happen more by accident? Who took the critical decisions and on what basis? How did female researchers fare in a male-dominated

VIII PREFACE environment? How did instrumental innovations contribute and who were the technicians and engineers who made them possible? When and how did the MPG develop from a predominantly German body into an increasingly international organization? What were the major obstacles and conflicts associated with the reorientation of the astro-institutes toward the most dynamic topics of 21st-century astrophysics? What role did science diplomacy, the making of Europe, and the situating of observatories in politically problematic environments play in this success story? These are just some of the questions addressed by the authors in this fascinating, thoroughly researched, and comprehensive account.

Jürgen Renn

Foreword

In this impressive 700-plus page book, the two experienced and well-known science historians Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon present the results of their five-year study of the evolution of the astro-sciences in the Max Planck Society (MPG), from a very small subfield of nuclear physics in the pre-war Kaiser Wilhelm Society, to one of the larger and more highly visible activities of the MPG in the physical sciences five decades later. Bonolis and Leon present the reader with a rich historical narrative and analysis built from a detailed study of the archival sources, as well as from many discussions with individuals who shaped this story. Starting with the difficult situation post World War 11, where research activities in nuclear/particle physics, radioactivity, and rockets were forbidden by allied regulations, the leading physicists in the newly formed MPG around Werner Heisenberg, Walter Bothe, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, and Wolfgang Gentner had to find new directions for their work. Bonolis and Leon describe how in a first phase, two centers in cosmic ray studies and plasma physics, including theory, began to form in Géttingen/Munich and Heidelberg around Heisenberg and Gentner, the nuclei of the new astroscience activities.

In the second phase, and with the help of the next generation of leaders, including Ludwig Biermann, Reimar Lüst, Joachim Trümper, Peter Mezger, and Rudolf Kippenhahn, activities broadened. Following the 1957 Sputnik “shock” space research began, and observational astronomy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum was taken up in the 1960s and 1970s in a “cluster” of new research groups and institutes. Benefitting from the “German Wirtschaftswunder” and the overall growth of the MPG during this period, these new activities broadened into many emerging research areas: the solar system, the interstellar medium, star formation, cosmochemistry, and stellar evolution in galaxies including our own, as well as high-energy phenomena in neutron stars, supernovae, black holes, and finally the evolution of the universe on the largest scales. Bonolis and Leon tell the fascinating story of the growth, rivalry, and collaboration between the strong-minded, powerful directors building this new landscape. The advantages of the MPG structure soon paid off with wellfunded, independent institutes and ambitious long-term research programs. In the experimental areas this opened up many new avenues, with substantial technical support groups allowing the new institutes to tackle complex and sometimes risky projects.

In the next decades the astro-cluster grew still further, becoming increasingly connected with the European activities at the European Laboratory for

X FOREWORD

Particle Physics (CERN), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as in the United States. This growth happened despite the fact that the overall budget of the mpc had begun to stagnate. At its peak in the 1980s, a remarkable 12 to 25%! of all MPG resources (including extra space research funds from the Ministry for Research and Technology, and from several foundations) went to the astro-cluster. At the turn of the century, with the third and fourth generations of directors at the wheel, this development of the astro-cluster had led to a world-class set of enterprises, in several cases at the forefront of global competition, achievements often owing to the specific “advantages” of the MPG funding and operating model. In their analysis of this “success story,’ Bonolis and Leon also touch on some of the downsides and disappointments, such as major project failures, the tensions between MPIs and local universities, the low proportion of female leaders, and the danger that the MPG “Harnack principle” can generate a dangerous power imbalance between directors and the scientists working with them.

The book finishes with a detailed study of the mpc leadership in the emerging new fields of astro-particle physics (neutrinos, TeV-y-astronomy) and gravitational wave astronomy.

I found this detailed account highly stimulating and interesting. The early history of the cluster happened before my time, and for me a number of the threads were quite unexpected, and in many ways clarifying for the cluster’s later history. Many of the more recent developments of this history I have participated in myself and I largely agree with the authors’ analysis. Clearly this book succeeds in its goal of telling a history of a (large) subfield within a major basic research organization. It is not an overall history of astronomy and astrophysics in the last 50 years.” At the global level a similar expansion took place, driven by the same opportunities in technology, space technology, and international collaboration. Considering just the last decade, work in astronomy and astrophysics (including astro-particle physics) has garnered a number of Nobel prizes in physics, demonstrating that it is currently one of the most active fields of the physical sciences. But in comparison to this wider story,

1 The exact value depends on which MPG activities are counted as belonging to the astro-cluster, whether or not one only counts “core” institutes fully dedicated to astro/spaceresearch, and how one treats external contributions from outside the MPG core budget.

2 A nice recent summary of such a broader history can be found in Malcolm Longair’s “100 Years of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology: A celebration of the centenary of the 14u,” in Under One Sky: The LAU Centenary Symposium Proceedings LAU Symposium No. 349, eds. C.

Sterken, J. Hearnshaw and D. Valls-Gabaud (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

FOREWORD XI the MPG astro-history is unique in that the beginnings were so modest; Germany before World War 11 was not a formidable force in astronomy, and until recently the development of astronomy and astrophysics at German universities has not been as dynamic.

It is impossible to predict the future. I would expect that the comparative advantages of the MPG model in the astro-sciences will continue for some time, and there is still much to learn and discover. Yet astronomy and astrophysics projects have been increasing in cost and duration, both on the ground and in space, as well as in numerical simulations. This may push the field’s central activities outside of the natural windows of advantage for a national, basic research organization based on individual excellence.

Reinhard Genzel Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics

Acknowledgments

This book builds on the work carried out within the Research Program History of the Max Planck Society (GMPG), which also generously funded its production and open access availability. For their contribution in one way or another to this volume we wish to thank our many colleagues from the GMPG team with whom we discussed a wide number of topics and whose views and suggestions were invaluable at all stages of writing. Many—but by no means all—of their intellectual contributions are reflected in the references. For a more definitive view of the intellectual connections between this book and the GMPG project, see the main research output of the project: Die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: Wissenschafts- und Zeitgeschichte 1945-2005, vol. 1. Jürgen Kocka, Carsten Reinhard, Jürgen Renn und Florian Schmaltz (eds.), forthcoming in 2023 with Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

We are extremely indebted to all those who read the working drafts of particular chapters at crucial moments of their development. In particular we thank Angela Creager, Alessandro De Angelis, Reinhard Genzel, Dieter Hoffmann, Werner Hoffmann, Till Kirsten, Roberto Lalli, Adele La Rana, Paolo Lipari, Carsten Reinhardt, Jürgen Renn, Florian Schmaltz, Christian Spiering, and Joachim Trümper.

In the publication phase, we benefited from the invaluable editorial support of Lindy Divarci and Birgit Kolboske. We are also grateful to Jill Denton for her meticulous copyediting of the English language.

We would like to acknowledge the generous assistance we received from Florian Spillert during our research in the Archives of the Max Planck Society in Berlin and are particularly indebted to Susanne Uebele whose unstinting support gave us the opportunity to include the photographic materials presented in the first chapter. The Director of the Archives, Kristina Starkloff, consistently supported and facilitated the consultation of archival materials. We also thank Anita Hollier at the CERN Archives in Geneva and Antonella Cotugno at the Archives of the Department of Physics at Sapienza University of Rome for their kindness in supporting our archival research.

Special thanks go to the library staff at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science for their patient guidance and help in obtaining rare materials. We appreciate the technical support provided by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science for our recording of the oral history interviews. Finally, we thank the Max Planck Society’s GwWDG branch of our project for providing the digital infrastructure and staffing through which we, as all in the GMPG

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XIII project, were able to access digitized archival material and novel analytical tools.

We are deeply grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Last but not least, our deepest gratitude goes to all the researchers who generously provided interviews, conversations, and personal communications that were crucial and enlightening in understanding the developments, dynamics, and intricacies of the complex and multi-layered reality of the Max Planck Society. They are acknowledged individually in the list of interviewees and footnotes. This research has made extensive use of the SAO/NASA’s Astrophysics Data System.

Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon May 31, 2022

Oral History Interviews

Appenzeller, Immo: interview by Juan-Andres Leon, Heidelberg, August, 2016

Baars, Jacob W. M.: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Bonn, February 5-7, 2018. DA GMPG, BC 601050

Begemann, Friedrich: interview by Ursula B. Marvin in 2001, Rome. Published in Oral histories in meteoritics and planetary science: vi11. Friedrich Begemann. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 37: B69-B77 (2002), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100 .2002.tD00905.x

Biermann, Ludwig Franz Benedikt: interview by Owen Gingerich, June 23 and July 7, 1978. Transcript. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA

Biermann, Ludwig Franz Benedikt: interview by Martin Harwit, February 16, 1984. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA

Biermann, Ludwig Franz Benedikt: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan 111, September 15, 1978, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu /archives/items/show/896

Bondi, Hermann: interview by David DeVorkin, March 20, 1978, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip .org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4519

Cowling, Thomas: interview by David DeVorkin, March 22, 1978, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip .org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4563

Drever, Ronald W. P.: interview by Shirley K. Cohen, January-June 1997. Transcript, California Institute of Technology Archives, Oral History Project, http://resolver.caltech .edu/CaltechOH:OH_Drever_R

Falcke, Heino: interview by Juan-Andres Leon, Roberto Lalli and Luisa Bonolis, Berlin, August 23, 2019

Feustel-Biiechl, Jorg: interview by Helmut Trischler on 09.04.2010. Historical Archives of the European Union. Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives .eui.eu/en/oral_history/INTo65

Forward, Robert L.: interview by Harry Collins available at http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk /harrycollins/webquote/

Gentner, Wolfgang: interview by Charles Weiner, November 15, 1971. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5080

Giazotto, Adalberto: interview by Luisa Bonolis. In Carlo Bemporad and Luisa Bonolis:

Storie di Uomini e quarks. La fisica sperimentale a Pisa e lo sviluppo della Sezione

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS XV dell’ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (1960-2010). Società Italiana di Fisica (2012) 175-190

Gottstein, Klaus: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Munich, September 7, 2017. DA GMPG, BC 601006

Hachenberg, Otto: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan 111, Bonn, February 22, 1973. Papers of Woodruff T. Sullivan 111: Tapes Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/14922

Haerendel, Gerhard: interview by Helmuth Trischler and Matthias Knopp, April 9, 2010. Transcript, Historical Archives of the European Union. Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives.eui.eu/en/oral_history/INTo66

Hoerner, Sebastian von: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan 111 February 23, 1977. Papers of Woodruff T. Sullivan 111: Tapes Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/15272

Hoerner, Sebastian von: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan 111, Montreal, August 20, 1979. Papers of Woodruff T. Sullivan 111, Tapes Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/15273

Hofmann, Werner: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Heidelberg, November 10-11, 2017. DA GMPG, BC 601010

Kafka, Peter: interview by Michael Langer, March 27, 1999. Live-Gespräch- Sendung “Zwischentöne” Deutschlandfunk, http://www.gegen-den-untergang.de /zwischentoene1g99.html

Kafka, Peter: interview by Harry Collins, http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/harrycollins /webquote/

Keller, Horst-Uwe: interview by Helmuth Trischler and Matthias Knopp, June 10, 2010. Transcript, Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives.eui.eu/en /oral_history/INTo78

Kellermann, Kenneth: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan 111, Tapes Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items /show/14994

Kippenhahn, Rudolf: interview by Owen Gingerich, June 18, 1978. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5091

Kirsten, Till: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Heidelberg, October 24-25, 2017. DA GMPG, BC 601051

Kowarski, Lew: interview by Charles Weiner, 8 sessions, March 20, 1969-November 20, 1971. Transcripts, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral -histories/4717-1

XVI ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS

Krabbe, Alfred, Thomas Keilig, Christian Fischer, Dörte Mehlert, and Zaheer Ali: interview by Markus Völter, 2015. Omega Tau, http://omegataupodcast.net/189-sofia -part-1-basics/

Longair, Malcolm: interview by Robert W. Smith, June 14, 1984. Space Telescope History Project, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, https://sova .si.edu/record/NASM.1999.0035?s=0&n=10&t=C&q=oral+history+interview+with +Longair&i=o

Lüst, Reimar: interview by Hans von Storch and Klaus Hasselmann, December 2, 2000. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral -histories/33761

Lüst, Reimar: interview by Horst Kant and Jürgen Renn, Hamburg, May 18, 2010. DA GMPG Archive, ID 601068

Lüst, Reimar: interview by Helmut Trischler on 08.09.2010. Historical Archives of the European Union. Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives.eui .eu/en/oral_history/INTo70

Marshall, L.: interview by Alan Mitchell, June 4, 1978. Transcript. Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, Center for Advanced Studies (scas) Collection, Special Collections and Archives Division, The University Archives, University of Texas at Dallas, Box 3, Folder 23

Menten, Karl: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Bonn, February 5-8, 2018. DA GMPG, BC 601052

Mezger, Peter G.: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan, Bonn, November 22, 1973. Transcript. Papers of Woodruff T. Sullivan 111: Tapes Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/15066

Mirzoyan, Razmik: interview by Juan-Andres Leon, Munich, August 13-14, 2018. GMPG DA, BC 601021

Mirzoyan, Razmik: interview by Eleni Chatzichristou, March u, 2015. Transcript. http://www.appec.org/roadmap

Morrison, Philip: interview by Owen Gingerich, February 22, 2003, Cambridge MA, Session I. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library /oral-histories/30591-1

Pinkau, Klaus: interview by Helmuth Trischler, March 9, 2010. Transcript, Historical Archives of the European Union. Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives.eui.eu/en/oral_history/INTo72

Pirani, Felix: interview by Dean Rickles, June 23, 2011. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https://www.aip .org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/34463

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS XVII

Priester, Wolfgang: interview by Woodruff T. Sullivan 111 August 30, 1976. Papers of Woodruff T. Sullivan 111: Tapes Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archives, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/15130

Prix, Reinhard, Christoph Affeldt, Carsten Aulbert: interviews by Markus Völter, Hannover, June 2016. Omega Tau, 2016. http://omegataupodcast.net/223-relativitat-und -gravitationswellen/

Rauck, Horst: interview by Helmut Trischler, June 19, 2010. Historical Archives of the European Union. Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives.eui .eu/en/oral_history/INTo73

Schunck, Hermann: interview by Adele La Rana, May 14, 2019

Schwarzschild, Martin: interview by Spencer Weart, July 30, 1975. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MF USA, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28321

Schwarzschild, Martin: interview by David DeVorkin and Spencer Weart, December 16, 1977, Session III. Transcript, AIP, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr -library/oral-histories/4870-3

Schwarzschild, Martin: interview by William Aspray, November 18, 1986, Transcript, Charles Babbage Institute, https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107629

Spitzer, Lyman: interview by Joan Bromberg, March 15, 1978. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MF USA, https:// www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4900

Townes, Charles Hard: interview by Suzanne B. Riess, 1991-1992. Transcript, Selected oral histories from the uc Berkeley Oral History Center, Online Archive of California, https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt3199n627/?brand=o0ac4

Triimper, Joachim: interview by Helmuth Trischler and Matthias Knopp, Munich, March 18, 2010. Transcript, Historical Archives of the European Union. Oral History of Europe in Space Collection, https://archives.eui.eu/en/oral_history/INTo76

Triimper, Joachim: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Munich, August, 7-8, 2017. DA GMPG, BC 601036

Unsöld, Albrecht: interview by Owen Gingerich, June 6, 1978. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, https:// www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4924

Völk, Heinrich: interview by Luisa Bonolis and Juan-Andres Leon, Heidelberg, October 9-10, 2017. DA GMPG, BC 601037

Wänke, Heinrich: interview by Ursula B. Marvin in 2002. Published in Oral histories in meteoritics and planetary science: 1x. Heinrich Wänke. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 37: B79-B88 (2002), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j .1945-5100.2002.tbo0g06.x

XVII ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS

Weiss, Reiner: interview by Shirley K. Cohen, May 10, 2000. Transcript. California Institute of Technology Archives, Oral History Project, https://resolver.caltech.edu /CaltechOH:OH_Weiss_R

Weizsäcker, Carl Friedrich, Freiherr von: interview by Karl Hufbauer, April 18, 1978. Transcript, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories 14948

Wheeler, John Archibald: interview by Kenneth W. Ford, Session 1x, March 4, 1994, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5908 -9, and Session XII, 28 March 1994, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels -bohr-library/oral-histories/5908-12 Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA

Illustrations

Unless otherwise specified, all the photographs are reproduced with kind permission of the Archives of the Max Planck Society, Berlin-Dahlem. Chapter 1, relating to the foundational era, is the only chapter with illustrations.

The Farm Hall house, near Cambridge, where ten German physicists (Erich Bagge, Kurt Diebner, Walther Gerlach, Otto Hahn, Paul Harteck, Werner Heisenberg, Horst Korsching, Max von Laue, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, and Karl Wirtz) were detained from July 1945 to early January 1946 (photo by Erich Bagge). 36

Left to right: Werner Heisenberg, Max von Laue, and Otto Hahn in Göttingen, soon after their return to Germany on January 3,1946. 37

Left to right: Otto Hahn, Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer, Werner and Elisabeth Heisenberg, and Werner Hoppenstedt. Göttingen, March 8, 1949. 38

The Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen on Bunsenstrasse, housed since the summer of 1946 in Building No. 10 of the Aerodynamics Research Institute (AvA), which formerly contained a cooling tunnel. 39

The library of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen. 40

Werner Heisenberg (right) at CERN in 1960 with Edoardo Amaldi and Giuseppe Fidecaro (left). Fidecaro was one of the first physicists to work at the Geneva international laboratory (© CERN Archives). 43

Left to right: Werner Heisenberg, Enrico Fermi, Louis Leprince-Ringuet, and Bruno Rossi during the Summer School on “Nuclear Physics and Cosmic Rays” held in Varenna, Lake Como from July 26 to August 2,1954. 45

Otto Hahn and Frédéric Joliot-Curie in Lindau, 1958, at the 8th Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to chemistry. Joliot-Curie died only a few weeks later. 46 Max Planck (left) and Max von Laue (right) in Göttingen, 1947. 48

The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin-Dahlem, with the laboratory for low-temperature physics visible on the right. Photo taken at the institute’s inauguration in 1938. 49

The Cockcroft-Walton accelerator in the tower building of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin-Dahlem, 1938. 50

Max Planck congratulates Otto Hahn for having been awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize for Chemistry “for his discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei.” Max von Laue, Adolf Windaus, and Werner Heisenberg are visible in the

background. 52

Göttingen at the beginning of the 1950s. Klaus Gottstein and Werner Heisenberg, on the left Fritz Houtermans. 60

27 28 29

30 31 32

ILLUSTRATIONS

Inflation of the balloons that would lift the weight of photographic plates in order to study the nuclear reactions generated by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere, April 17,1952. 61

Göttingen, October 1951. The Federal President, Theodor Heuss, during a visit to the Max Planck Institute for Physics, sitting at a microscope and observing

a photographic plate with Martin Teucher; behind them stands Ms. Baumbach. 62

Fritz Houtermans observing a photographic plate through a microscope in Aprilıg48. 63

The working group for the study of nuclear processes in photographic plates on a lunch break, March 1952. Left to right: Ms. Ahrens, Juan Roederer, Christa Schriel, Alfred Gierer, Xula Vigon, Klaus Gottstein, and Ms. Baumbach. 64 Institute’s excursion in “the old eagle,” (Heisenberg’s old car). Left to right: Juan Roederer, H.M. Mayer, ?, ?, Klaus Gottstein. 65

Women scanning nuclear emulsions with microscopes, March 12, 1954. From left to right: Ms. Bischoff, Ahrens, S. Koebe, Behm, Baumbach, Arndt, and Pätzold. 65

Max Planck Institute for Physics, spring 1954. Left to right: Klaus Gottstein, Ms. Baumbach, Schriel, Ahrens, Lindenberger, Bette, and H.-M. Mayer. 66

Klaus Gottstein on the ship used for the recovery of photographic plates, from which balloons were launched in the Mediterranean Sea. 66

Naples, early 1950s. Departure of two darex balloons, in the background is the Göttingen group’s hut. 67

International collaboration in Sardinia. Filling of darex balloons, June-August 1953 68

The wreath-laying ceremony on the hundredth birthday of Max Planck, Göttingen, April 23, 1958. From left to right: Otto Hahn, Ludwig Biermann, Werner Heisenberg, and Ernst Telschow. 75

Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (left) and Karl Wirtz (right) during the General Meeting of the Max Planck Society in Munich in 1951.

Ludwig Prandtl in the wind tunnel at the Aerodynamics Research Institute, Göttingen, 1940. 79

Biermann sitting at his desk in Göttingen, April 1948. 86

Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker at his desk in Göttingen, April 1948. 87 Laboratory of the Max Planck Institut für Instrumentenkunde in 1948, where Heinz Billing invented the first magnetic storage system for computers. 89 Heinz Billing standing near the computing machine, Gi. 90

Heinz Billing and Hermann Oehlmann at the G2 computer in 1954. 91

Heinz Billing near the computing machine, G3, beginning operations. Atthe console is Arno Carlsberg. Göttingen, 1960. 91

ILLUSTRATIONS XXI

38 39 40 41 42

Heinz Billing and Ludwig Biermann in 1972 at the shutdown of the G3 machine. 92

Apparatus for simulating the trajectories of charged cosmic ray particles in the Earth’s magnetic field, built at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen in the very early 1950s. 93

Workshop of the Max Planck Institute for Physics directed by Heisenberg (March 1954). 93

Ludwig Biermann at the blackboard during a seminar at the Max Planck Institute for Physics, Göttingen, 1956. 96

Göttingen, early 1950s, from left: Ms. Kugel, Reimar Lüst, ? Schulten, Stefan Temesväry (with a bicycle), Eleonore Trefftz (Courtesy of Milian Trefftz). 103 Erich Bagge working on cosmic rays in Göttingen, end of the 1940s. 105 Model of nuclear reactor. Max Planck Institute for Physics, July 16,1956. 115 Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger sitting ina cafe. 121

Walther Bothe, Otto Haxel, and Hans Kopfermann in the late 1930s. 124

The Van de Graaff electrostatic generator at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, 1936. 127

Van de Graaff accelerator: flashover due to electric discharge of high current made through the air between the spheres at very high electric potential. 128 Wolfgang Gentner (left) and Walther Bothe (right) in Paris with Frédéric Joliot-Curie in 1937 during the physicists’ meeting organized on the occasion of the World Fair. Behind Joliot-Curie is Bruno Pontecorvo. 129

Wolfgang Gentner with Peter H. Jensen (on his right) and Arnold Flammersteld (left) during ww, evaluating measurements of the energy of fission neutrons, whose pulses were recorded on photographic paper strips via

oscillographs. 131

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, 1943. Transportation of the cyclotron magnet for Bothe’s Institute for Physics. 133

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg. The cyclotron magnet ready for installation, 1943. Russian prisoners of war were employed for transport and installation operations. 134

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, Bothe’s Institute for Physics, Heidelberg, 1943. The cyclotron with its vacuum chamber. 135

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, Bothe’s Institute for Physics, Heidelberg. The cyclotron vacuum chamber where particle trajectories are bent by the magnetic field and repeatedly accelerated by an electric field. 136 Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, Bothe’s Institute for Physics, Heidelberg, 1940-1941. Graphite sphere for measuring the absorption cross-section of neutrons in carbon. 137

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ILLUSTRATIONS

From left to right: Wolfgang Gentner, with Werner Heisenberg and Alexander Hocker (both German delegates to the Conference on the Establishment of the European laboratory) in 1955, during the meeting held on June u to sign the agreement between the Council of CERN and the Swiss Federal Council defining the legal status of the organization in Switzerland. 138

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, Mainz. Mass spectrograph. 140

Josef Mattauch at the mass spectrograph for precise measurement of the masses of atomic nuclei, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, 1956. 141 From left: Josef Mattauch, Otto Hahn, and Daniel Jensen, Eltville am Rhein, October 27,1954. 142

Friedrich Paneth with apparatus for the microanalysis of noble gases, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, June 6,1956. 143

Van de Graaff accelerator, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, June 16, 1953. 144

Van de Graaff generator for 3 up to 5 million volts. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, June 6,1956. 145

1.5 million-volt Cockcroft-Walton accelerator, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, June 6,1956. 146

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz. Lower end of the Cockcroft-Walton cascade generator with deflecting magnet, June 6,1956. 147

Josef Zähringer. 150

Oliver Adam Schaeffer. 150

Inauguration of the experimental hall containing the tandem accelerator, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg, 1962. From left: Wolfgang Gentner, Otto Hahn, Siegfried Balke (then Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy), Adolf Butenandt (then President of the Max Planck Society), Werner Heisenberg. 154

Brigitte Huck at the control panel of the tandem accelerator. Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg. 155

Maria Goeppert Mayer and Hans D. Jensen in Heidelberg, in 1957. 156 Werner Heisenberg and Ludwig Biermann on August 21, 1956, at the ceremony for laying the foundation stone of the new headquarters of the new Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich. 160

Inauguration ceremony of the new Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich, May 9, 1960. From left: the Secretary of State, Fritz Staudinger, Otto Hahn, Ludwig Biermann, and Werner Heisenberg. 161

From left: Georg Pfotzer and Erich Regener around 1950 in Weissenau. 163 Walther Bothe and Erich Regener in 1955, in front of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. 165

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Rare image of the fully equipped ‘Regener Tonne, the first scientific rocket payload designed to reach the upper part of the atmosphere. 166 Preparation for the launch of an A-4 rocket, 1942: the control section of the world’s first large rocket, which was 14 meters high and weighed 12.9 tons with full tanks, is open; above there is space for a payload of one ton. 167 Research Center for Stratospheric Physics, Weissenau, early post-war years. Preparing the launch of a Regener’s balloon tandem. 169