PRACTICAL PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
CONTENTS “UNDER MY PROTECTION AND NAME… ” – ORIGINS AND FOUNDING OF THE INSTITUTE HABER’S INSTITUTE DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR THE “GOLDEN YEARS” OF HABER’S INSTITUTE REBUILDING WITHIN THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY RESEARCH ORIENTATION: COLLOID CHEMISTRY AND ATOMIC STRUCTURE PHYSICAL AND THEORETICAL CHEMISTRY SPECTROSCOPY AND QUANTUM PHYSICS THE “NATIONAL SOCIALIST MODEL ENTERPRISE” OUSTERS AND REORGANIZATIONS RESEARCH ACTIVITIES INTEGRATION INTO THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST SYSTEM A PATCHWORK INSTITUTE STRUCTURE RESEARCH UNDER LAUE THE SPECIAL CASE OF RUSKA RUDOLF BRILL AND THE END OF THE LAUE ERA RESHAPING THE FRITZ HABER INSTITUTE RESEARCH PROGRAMS, INITIATED AND EXPIRED THE INSTITUTE FOR ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (IFE) – BETWEEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ALEXANDER BRADSHAW AND SYNCHROTRON RESEARCH IN BERLIN (BESSY) FRITZ HABER INSTITUTE AS AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SURFACE SCIENCE CURRENT ERA USHERING IN THE INSTITUTE’S NEXT HUNDRED YEARS THEORY DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR PHYSICS DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY BOARD 1981– LIST OF REFERENCES ARCHIVES SO WROTE THE BERLIN THEOLOGIAN AND DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL LIBRARY, ADOLF HAR- NACK, IN A 1909 MEMORANDUM THAT WOULD SERVE AS THE FOUNDING DOCUMENT FOR THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY (KAISER-WILHELM-GESELLSCHAFT, KWG) AND HENCE FOR THE KAISER WILHELM INSTITUTE FOR PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AND ELECTROCHEMISTRY (KAISER- WILHELM-INSTITUT FÜRPHYSIKALISCHECHEMIE UND ELEKTROCHEMIE, KWI), ONE OF THE ?RST INSTITUTES ESTABLISHED BY THE SOCIETY THE CREATION OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS WAS THE CULMINATION OF INTERWOVEN CHAINS OF EVENTS STRETCHING BACK WELL INTO THE 19TH CENTURY AND CLOSELY TIED TO THE RISE OF GERMANY, AND BERLIN IN PARTICULAR, AS AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARLY RESEARCH THREE INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS CON- TRIBUTED SUBSTANTIALLY TO THIS RISE TO ACADEMIC PROMINENCE 2 THE ?RST WAS THE FOUNDING IN BERLIN IN 1810 OF THE FRIEDRICH WILHELM UNIVERSITY (FRIEDRICH-WIL- HELMS-UNIVERSITÄT, BERLIN UNIVERSITY), ONE OF THE ?RST ESTABLISHMENTS TO PROMOTE THE IDEAL OF THE UNITY OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING, WHICH WOULD BECOME A HALLMARK OF THE MODERN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY THEN IN 1887, THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY (PHYSIKALISCH-TECHNISCHE REICHSANSTALT, PTR) BEGAN OPERATIONS IN BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG THE ?RST LARGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE TO STAND OUTSIDE THE UNI- VERSITY SYSTEM, THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY, RESULTED FROM A CLOSE COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE STATE, INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE, AIMED AT ESTABLISHING AN INSTITUTE THAT COULD MEET THE DEMANDS OF MODERN, LARGE-SCALE SCIENTI?C RESEARCH FINALLY, CAME THE FOUNDING OF THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE SCIENCES IN 1911 – THE LAST IN THIS SERIES OF INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS THAT, THOUGH INITIATED IN BERLIN, WOULD AFFECT THE SCIENTI?C LANDSCAPE WELL BEYOND THE BORDERS OF GERMANY THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY WAS ESTABLISHED TO SUPPLEMENT THE EFFORTS OF THE UNIVERSITIES AND TECHNICAL COLLEGES IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING, IN PART AS A RESPONSE TO RISING INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION, PARTICULARLY FROM THE UNITED STATES, WHOSE RAPID SCIENTI?C GROWTH HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO CALL GERMAN LEADERSHIP IN THESE ?ELDS INTO QUESTION 1 HARNACK, DENKSCHRIFT, P 82 2 LAITKO, INNOVATIONEN “UNDER MY PROTECTION AND NAME… ” FIG 1 1 THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY IN BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG THE FOUNDERS OF THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY BUILT UPON THE SUCCESSES OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHERS IN OTHER SCIENTI?C DIS- CIPLINES, CHEMISTRY IN PARTICULAR, SOUGHT TO EMULATE THE MODEL IT PROVIDED OF AN INSTITUTE FOR “BIG SCIENCE,” IN THE MODERN SENSE, DEDICATED EXCLUSIVELY TO PHYSICS AND METROLOGY 3 THE BERLIN CHEMIST, EMIL FISCHER, WHO HAD FOUNDED A LABORATORY FOR QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH IN CHEMISTRY BASED ON PRECISION METHODS JUST BEFORE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, BECAME THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE EFFORT TO CREATE AN IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY ANALOGOUS TO THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY INI- TIAL ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH SUCH AN INSTITUTE THROUGH GOVERNMENT MEANS FOUNDERED ON ISSUES OF STATE ?NANCES IN RESPONSE, LEADING REPRESENTATIVES OF ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY ESTABLISHED IN 1905 AN INDEPENDENT PLANNING COMMITTEE TO PROMOTE THE PROSPECTIVE INSTITUTE, WHICH THEN DEVELOPED INTO AN IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY ASSOCIATION SOME THREE YEARS LATER 4 THE ASSOCIATION AIMED PRINCI- PALLY TO COLLECT THE FUNDS NECESSARY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PROPOSED INSTITUTE THROUGH DONATIONS AND MEMBERSHIP DUES, AND THEREBY CIRCUM- VENT DEPENDENCE UPON STATE ?NANCING, ALTHOUGH ASSOCIATION MEMBERS REMAINED DEDICATED, ON PRINCIPLE, TO STATE SUPPORT FOR THE NEW INSTITUTE A MEMORANDUM ON THE NEED FOR AN IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY COMPOSED BY EMIL FISCHER IN 3 CF CAHAN, INSTITUTE 4 CF JOHNSON, CHEMISTS THIS LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT APPEARED AN EVER MORE ACUTE PROBLEM IN THAT PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY WAS NO LONGER A LIMINAL ?ELD, BUT WAS INCREASINGLY RECOG- NIZED AS A FUNDAMENTAL DISCIPLINE WITHIN CHEMISTRY PHYSICAL CHEMISTS WANTED TO ADDRESS BASIC CONCEPTS COMMON TO ALL OF CHEMISTRY, SUCH AS CHEMICAL BINDING AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS, WHICH TOUCHED UPON THE UNDERLYING PHYSICAL BASES OF CHEM- ICAL STRUCTURE THE RESULTING, INCREASINGLY MULTI-FACETED NEW BRANCH OF CHEMISTRY COULD NOT BE NEATLY INSERTED INTO THE GERMAN ORDINARY PROFESSORIATE, WHICH WAS STILL MARKED BY STUBBORN DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES AND THE ALMOST OVERWHELMING DOMINANCE OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY HENCE, THERE WAS AN ENORMOUS DEMAND FOR NEW INSTITUTES OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, AND NOT ONLY FOR SMALL, SPECIALIZED INSTITUTES THAT COULD MAKE UP FOR THE EXISTING DE?CIT BUT ALSO FOR A CENTRAL INSTITUTE, PREFERABLY HOUSED IN BERLIN, THE IMPERIAL CAPITAL, THAT COULD HELP GUIDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ?ELD WITH RESPECT TO ITS SIZE, FACILITIES AND MODERNITY THE CHEMICAL INSTITUTE OF THE BERLIN UNIVERSITY ERECTED IN 1900 FOR EMIL FISCHER PRESENTED AN EXCELLENT MODEL FOR SUCH A ?AGSHIP INSTITUTE7 – ASSUMING, OF COURSE, ONE OVERLOOKED ITS FOCUS ON ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 5 GIRNUS, GRUNDZÜGE 6 BARTELT, BERLIN 7 REINHARDT, ZENTRALE “UNDER MY PROTECTION AND NAME… ” ALTHOUGH THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY OFFERED “SUBSTANTIAL DONATIONS” TO SUPPORT THE PROPOSED INSTITUTE, AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PRUSSIAN STATE EXPRESSED NO DOUBTS CONCERNING THE SIGNI?CANCE OF SUCH AN UNDERTAKING, THE LACK OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS CONTINUED TO BLOCK PROGRESS, AND THE STATE SET ASIDE DISCUSSION OF THE MATTER EARLY IN 1909 8 BUT SOON THEREAFTER A NEW OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE THE PROJECT AROSE IN CONNECTION WITH THE GRAND DESIGNS OF THE PREEMINENT DIRECTOR OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN THE PRUSSIAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE, FRIEDRICH ALTHOFF AS THE NEW CEN- TURY OPENED, ALTHOFF HAD FORMULATED A PLAN TO DEVELOP THE REMAINING CROWN LANDS IN THE FORMER DEMESNE OF DAHLEM INTO “A GERMAN OXFORD ” IN ALTHOFF’S VISION, THE BERLIN SUBURB WOULD HOST NOT ONLY ANNEXES OF THE BERLIN UNIVERSITY BUT ALSO NEW RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND EXTENSIVE SCIENTI?C COLLECTIONS 9 HOWEVER, ALTHOFF DIED IN 1908, WITHOUT HAVING MADE SIGNI?CANT PROGRESS TOWARD REALIZING HIS PLANS NEV- ERTHELESS, SHORTLY AFTER ALTHOFF’S DEATH, KAISER WILHELM II COMMISSIONED ALTHOFF’S LONG-TIME ASSOCIATE FRIEDRICH SCHMIDT (AFTER 1920 SCHMIDT-OTT) TO COMPILE A REPORT ON “ALTHOFF’S PLANS FOR DAHLEM ” LESS THAN A YEAR LATER, AS THE PRUSSIAN BUREAUCRACY BEGAN TO PONDER AN APPROPRIATE ROYAL GIFT FOR THE CENTENNIAL OF THE BERLIN UNIVER- SITY, SCHMIDT-OTT SENT ALTHOFF’S PLANS TO THE CHIEF OF THE CIVIL CABINET, RUDOLF VON VALENTINI, WHO THEN FORWARDED THEM TO THE THEOLOGIAN AND DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL LIBRARY, ADOLF VON HARNACK, ALONG WITH HIS OWN REQUEST FOR A REPORT ON THE PLANS AS PART OF HIS REPORT, HARNACK WAS SUPPOSED TO EVALUATE THE PRESENT SCIENTI?C STANDING OF GERMANY AND TO DEVELOP FROM HIS ASSESSMENT A PROPOSAL FOR A ?TTING CENTENARY GIFT FROM THE KAISER HARNACK COMPLETED HIS REPORT, A “MEMORANDUM CONCERNING THE FOUNDING OF A KAISER WILHELM INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTI?C RESEARCH,” IN THE AUTUMN OF 1909 IN HIS MEMORANDUM, HARNACK RELIED NOT ONLY UPON ALTHOFF’S PLANS BUT ALSO UPON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF SCIENTISTS SUCH AS EMIL FISCHER, WALTHERNERNST AND AUGUST WASSERMANN, WEAVING THESE TOGETHER WITH A DIRE WARNING CONCERNING THE PLIGHT OF GERMAN SCIENCE AND THE CONCOMITANT DANGERS TO STATE AND BUSINESS INTERESTS: …GERMAN SCHOLARSHIP LAGS BEHIND THAT OF OTHER NATIONS IN IMPORTANT LINES OF SCI- ENTI?C RESEARCH AND ITS ABILITY TO COMPETE IS GRAVELY THREATENED…THIS CIRCUMSTANCE IS ALREADY OMINOUS FOR THE NATION-STATE AND IS BECOMING EVER MORE SO FOR SCHOLAR- SHIP FOR THE STATE, IT IS OMINOUS BECAUSE IN THESE TIMES OF EXTRAORDINARILY INTENSI?ED NATIONALIST SENTIMENT, UNLIKE IN THE PAST, EVERY RESULT OF SCHOLARLY RESEARCH IS STAMPED WITH A NATIONAL SEAL HARNACK PAID PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF THEORETICAL AND ORGANIC CHEM- ISTRY HE EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH ON THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND ATOMIC WEIGHTS, WHICH HE LAUDED AS: 8 CF JOHNSON, CHEMISTS, P 48 FF 9 CF ENGEL, DAHLEM 10 HARNACK, DENKSCHRIFT, P 82 THAT HARNACK’S MEMORANDUM FOCUSED SO CLEARLY ON CHEMISTRY WAS DUE IN NO SMALL PART TO HIS HAVING SOUGHT ADVICE ON THE PROJECT FROM EMIL FISCHER AND OTH- ERS WHO HAD TAKEN PART IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY ASSOCIATION HARNACK WROTE IN HIS MEMORANDUM, CONTRARY TO ITS LATER REALIZATION, OF A SINGLE GRAND CHEMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE TO BE SUPPORTED NOT BY THE STATE ALONE BUT BY “A COOPERATION OF THE STATE AND WEALTHY, SCIENTI?CALLY-INTERESTED, PRI- VATE CITIZENS ” TO ACHIEVE THIS, “AN ASSOCIATION OF DONORS WOULD BE ESTABLISHED THAT STRETCHED ACROSS THE ENTIRE MONARCHY,” AND HENCE POSSESSED THE ?NANCIAL RESOURCES NECESSARY TO REALIZE SUCH GRAND PLANS HARNACK’S MEMORANDUM WAS READ TO THE MONARCH, WORD FOR WORD, AT THE BEGIN- NING OF DECEMBER, AND RECEIVED THE “LIVELIEST, UNRESTRAINED APPLAUSE OF HIS MAJESTY ” 11 IBID 12 IBID , P 87 TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE ENDOWMENT, STATE EXECUTIVES WORKED THROUGH PRESIDENTS OF REGIONAL COUNCILS AND CITY MAYORS, SOMETIMES WITH THE HELP OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ?NANCE MINISTRY, TO IDENTIFY THOSE CITIZENS WITH THE LARGEST FORTUNES AND THEREBY ESTABLISH A POOL OF PROSPECTIVE DONORS THE MAYOR OF DÜSSELDORF AT THE 13 MPG, 50JAHRE KWG/MPG, P 113 14 IBID , P 114 “UNDER MY PROTECTION AND NAME… ” TIME SPOKE OF “SURROUNDING THE NOBLE QUARRY FOR PROFESSOR HARNACK AND HIS ROYAL PROTECTOR ”15 THESE “NOBLE QUARRY” WERE THEN INVITED TO MAKE SIZABLE DONATIONS, BOTH AS A SIGN OF THEIR SYMPATHY FOR COMMUNAL NEEDS AND ROYAL INTERESTS AND AS A WAY TO SERVE THE NATIONAL CAUSE OF SCHOLARSHIP THE STRATEGY WAS SUCCESSFUL AND PLEDGES GREW RAPIDLY, IN SPITE OF LIMITED SUPPORT FROM THE LANDED NOBILITY AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OLD ELITE, AS PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE ASPIRING INDUSTRIAL AND BANKING BOURGEOISIE CAME FORWARD TO OFFER THEIR SUPPORT AMONG THE MOST GENEROUS DONORS RANKED THE STEEL MAGNATE GUSTAV KRUPP VON BOHLEN UND HALBACH, AS WELL AS THE DIRECTORS OF LEADING TECHNICAL ?RMS WILHELM VON SIEMENS OF SIEMENS ELECTRICAL AND HENRY THEODORE VON BÖTTINGER OF BAYER CHEMICALS, AND THE BANKERS FRANZ VON MENDELSSOHN AND EDUARD ARNHOLD DONORS WITH JEWISH ANCESTRY WERE CONSPICUOUSLY OVERREPRESENTED AMONGST THESE KEY CONTRIBUTORS IN A MANNER REMINISCENT OF THE “COURT JEWS” OF AN EARLIER ERA, MANY OF THESE JEWISH BENEFACTORS SOUGHT SOCIAL RECOGNITION, AS WELL AS CONCRETE POLITICAL AND ?NANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE BE BARRED TO THEM BY ANTI-SEMITISM, THROUGH THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN A GRAND NATIONAL PROJECT A FEW SHORT WEEKS AFTER THE KAISER’S PROCLAMATION, ON 11 JANUARY 1911, SEVENTY- NINE DONORS ASSEMBLED IN BERLIN UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER OF CULTURE, AUGUST VON TROTT ZU SOLZ, FOR THE CONSTITUTIVE MEETING OF THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY THEY DECIDED QUESTIONS OF INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE, DRAFTED A CON- STITUTION AND APPOINTED THE ?RST TEN SENATORS OF THE SOCIETY THE PRIVILEGE OF APPOINTING THE REMAINING TEN SENATORS BELONGED TO THE KAISER, ENSURING THE SOCIAL EXCLUSIVITY OF THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY AT ITS ?RST OF?CIAL SES- SION, TWO WEEKS LATER, THE SENATE PREDICTABLY ELECTED ADOLF VON HARNACK PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY, A FUNCTION HE INITIALLY FUL?LLED VOLUNTARILY AND IN ADDITION TO HIS EXISTING DUTIES TO THE STATE THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY WAS CLEARLY A PRIVATE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION, SUP- PORTED BY A PRIVATE ENDOWMENT AND REGISTERED IN BERLIN AS A PRIVATE ASSOCIA- TION, BUT THE STATE HAD NO INTENTION OF ABSENTING ITSELF FROM THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SOCIETY IN HIS ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE BERLIN UNIVERSITY CENTENARY, WIL- HELM II FORTHRIGHTLY DECLARED THAT “IT WILL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF [HIS] ADMINIS- TRATION … THAT THE INSTITUTES TO BE FOUNDED … DO NOT WANT FOR STATE AID ” THIS STATE AID TOOK THE FORM OF A COMMITMENT TO PAY THE OPERATING EXPENSES OF THE NEW INSTITUTES, AS WELL AS THE SALARIES OF THE SCHOLARS THEY EMPLOYED THUS THE KWG, THOUGH A PRIVATE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION, CLEARLY CAME UNDER THE AEGIS OF THE STATE, THROUGH WHICH THE SOCIETY SOUGHT, IN THE WORDS OF ITS ?RST PRESIDENT, TO AVOID “THE RISK OF DEPENDENCE UPON CLIQUE AND CAPITAL”16 AND TO ENSURE THE FUTURE OF SCHOL- ARLY RESEARCH AGAINST UNFORESEEN VICISSITUDES THAT SAID, THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE SOCIETY GAVE LARGE DONORS CONSIDERABLE LEVERAGE, INCLUDING ALLOWING THEM A VOICE IN THE DESIGN OF SPECI?C INSTITUTES, AND SOME OF THE LARGEST DONATIONS TO THE SOCIETY CAME WITH STRICT CONDITIONS, SUCH AS A GIFT FROM THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY 15 BURCHARDT, WISSENSCHAFTSPOLITIK, P 54 16 HARNACK TO VON TROTT ZU SOLZ, 22 JANUARY 1910, IN: MPG, 50JAHRE KWG/MPG, P 95 “UNDER MY PROTECTION AND NAME… ” FIG 1 4 CARTOON FROM SIMPLICISSIMUS:“THE THREE MAGI BRING THEIR CHRISTMAS GIFTS”