Rudolf Tomaschek facts for kids
Rudolf Karl Anton Tomaschek (born December 23, 1895, in Budweis, Bohemia – died February 8, 1966, in Breitbrunn am Chiemsee) was a German scientist who studied physics. He worked on interesting topics like how some materials glow in the dark (phosphorescence and fluorescence) and how the Earth's gravity changes with the tides.
Tomaschek supported a controversial idea called deutsche Physik (German Physics). Because of this, he lost his university jobs after World War II. Later, from 1948 to 1954, he worked in England for a company called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). When AIOC became BP in 1954, he moved back to Germany. There, he became the head of the Permanent Tidal Commission, continuing his research on tides.
Learning and Studying
From 1913 to 1918, Rudolf Tomaschek studied at the Deutsche Universität Prag in Prague. In the early 1920s, he earned his doctorate degree at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. His teacher was a famous physicist named Philipp Lenard. After getting his degree, Tomaschek became Lenard's assistant. He finished his advanced studies, called a Habilitation, with Lenard in 1924.
Rudolf Tomaschek's Career
Starting in 1921, Tomaschek did several experiments about how light travels through space. These were similar to the famous Michelson–Morley experiment. Even though his experiments showed results that supported Albert Einstein's special relativity theory, Tomaschek himself had different ideas about that theory.
In November 1926, Tomaschek moved to the Technical University of Munich. Later, he went to Philipps-Universität Marburg. In late 1927, he became a special professor of experimental physics there. From 1934, Tomaschek was the director of the physics department at the Technical University of Dresden. Then, from 1939 to 1945, he was a full professor and director of the physics department at the Technical University of Munich.
German Physics Movement
Tomaschek was a supporter of deutsche Physik, which means "German Physics." This movement was against modern theoretical physics, especially ideas from scientists like Albert Einstein. It also favored political reasons over a scientist's actual skill when making decisions at universities. Even though two Nobel Prize winners, Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark, were its main supporters, deutsche Physik attacked leading theoretical physicists.
When Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany in 1933, the "German Physics" movement became much stronger. Its supporters launched strong attacks against important theoretical physicists, including Arnold Sommerfeld and Werner Heisenberg.
In the summer of 1940, a scientist named Wolfgang Finkelnburg organized an important meeting. This meeting, called the Münchner Religionsgespräche, was a challenge to the "German Physics" movement. Finkelnburg invited scientists who believed in theoretical physics and that academic jobs should be based on skill, not politics. This discussion helped to reduce the influence of the "German Physics" movement in Germany.
After World War II
In 1945, after World War II ended, the Allied forces in Germany removed Tomaschek from his jobs at the Technical University of Munich. Another physicist, Georg Joos, took his place in September 1946.
From 1948 to 1954, Tomaschek worked for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) in England. This company later became British Petroleum in 1954. After that, he moved to Breitbrunn am Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany. There, he continued his research, especially on Earth's tides. He became the president of the Permanent Tidal Commission.
