Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1977 - 40 Pfennig

Important Personalities, Edition 1977 The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic issues four special postage stamps commemorating important personalities. No special first-day cover envelope Important personalities 40-pfennig value: Gustav Hertz Gustav Hertz was born on July 22, 1887 in Hamburg. In 1906 he began studying mathematics in Göttingen. In 1907 he continued his studies in the field of physics in Munich. He graduated in 1911 with a doctorate in Berlin. During the subsequent assistantship in Berlin, the collaboration with J. Franck began. Together in 1913 they carried out the famous attempt of quantum excitation of gas molecules by electron impact. Although not conceived in the first place, this experiment was an experimental confirmation of the theory of quantum set up by M. Planck and the support of Bohr's atomic model. The fundamental importance of the experiments was honored in 1925 with the Nobel Prize. His habilitation thesis 1917 can be regarded as a starting point for the later development of plasma and gas-discharge physics. From 1920 he worked in the Philipps incandescent factories in Eindhoven. The amounts of pure argon required for the production of fluorescent tubes prompted him to develop an economical separation process of the argon-nitrogen mixture, the diffusion process. The lack of teaching led him to 1925 to Halle and 1927 to go to the Technical University of Berlin. After 1933 he refused a declaration of loyalty to fascism. He had to give up teaching. In the industry he carried out work on ultrasound, semiconductors, gas discharges and field electron emission; the latter were the starting point for the field electron microscope. After World War II, Gustav Hertz accepted an invitation to the Soviet Union. In 1954 he returned to the GDR. Until 1961 he was the director of the Physics Institute of the Karl Marx University Leipzig. After his retirement, he continued to work scientifically and scientifically in various committees. He always put the performance at the top of his actions. As a humanist scientist, he was firmly committed to the peaceful application of scientific knowledge, in particular nuclear energy. His overall performance was honored with high scientific and state awards both at home and abroad. He was a member and honorary member of numerous national and international academies. Gustav Hertz has helped shape some of the major chapters of physical research and their use for the benefit of humanity in our time. On October 30, 1975 Gustav Hertz died in Berlin.