One Hundred Years at the Intersection of Chemistry and Physics: The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society 1911-2011

Jeremiah James; Thomas Steinhauser; Dieter Hoffmann; Bretislav Friedrich

book: One Hundred Years at the Intersection of Chemistry and Physics

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2011

One Hundred Years at the Intersection of Chemistry and Physics

The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society 1911-2011

Jeremiah James , Thomas Steinhauser , Dieter Hoffmann and Bretislav Friedrich

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110239546

Overview
Contents

About this book

This volume, occasioned by the centenary of the Fritz Haber Institute, formerly the Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, covers the institute's scientific and institutional history from its founding until the present. The institute was among the earliest established by the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, and its inauguration was one of the first steps in the development of Berlin-Dahlem into a center for scientific research. Its establishment was made possible by an endowment from Leopold Koppel, granted on the condition that Fritz Haber, well-known for his discovery of a method to synthesize ammonia from its elements, be made its director. The history of the institute has largely paralleled that of 20th-century Germany. It undertook controversial weapons research during World War I, followed by a "Golden Era" during the 1920s, in spite of financial hardships. Under the National Socialists it experienced a purge of its scientific staff and a diversion of its research into the service of the new regime, accompanied by a breakdown in its international relations. In the immediate aftermath of World War II it suffered crippling material losses, from which it recovered slowly in the post-war era. In 1953, shortly after taking the name of its founding director, the institute joined the fledgling Max Planck Society. During the 1950s and 60s, the institute supported diverse researches into the structure of
matter and electron microscopy in a territorially insular and politically precarious West-Berlin. In subsequent decades, as both Berlin and the Max Planck Society underwent significant changes, the institute reorganized around a board of coequal scientific directors and a renewed focus on the investigation of elementary processes on surfaces and interfaces, topics of research that had been central to the work of Fritz Haber and the first "Golden Era" of the institute.

Author / Editor information

Jeremiah James and Thomas Steinhauser, Fritz Haber Institute of Max Planck Institute, Berlin, Germany; Dieter Hoffmann, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and Humboldt University Berlin, Germany; Bretislav Friedrich, Fritz Haber Institute of Max Planck Institute and Technische Universitaet Berlin, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	I
Contents Open Access Download PDF	V
Preface Open Access Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	XI
1 “under my protection and name….” – Origins and Founding of the Institute Open Access Download PDF	1
2 The “Golden Years” of Haber’s Institute Open Access Download PDF	35
3 The “National Socialist Model Enterprise” Open Access Download PDF	89
4 A Patchwork Institute Open Access Download PDF	131
5 Reshaping the Fritz Haber Institute Open Access Download PDF	183
6 Current Era Open Access Download PDF	233
Members of the Advisory Board 1981–2011 Open Access Download PDF	271
List of References Open Access Download PDF	273
Archives Open Access Download PDF	297
List of Figures Open Access Download PDF	299
Index Open Access Download PDF	301

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Academics, Institutes, Libaries
Pages
- Front matter: 12
- Main content: 310
Illustrations
- Tables: 5
- Other: Num. figs. and color pages
Keywords: History of Chemistry; Physical Chemistry

eBook

Published: October 27, 2011
ISBN: 9783110239546

Hardcover

Published: October 17, 2011
ISBN: 9783110239539