Karl Friedrich Franz Christian Scheel (10 March 1866 in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

– 8 November 1936 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German physicist. He was a senior executive officer and head of Department IIIb at the Reich Physical and Technical Institute. Additionally, he served as editor of the journal ', the semi-monthly bibliographic section of the journal ''Physikalische Berichte'', the ''Verhandlungen'' of the German Physical Society, and the society’s journal ''Zeitschrift für Physik''. From 1926 to 1935, he was editor of the ''Handbuch der Physik''. An endowment by Scheel and his wife Melida funds the annual awarding of the Karl Scheel Prize by the Physical Society in Berlin.

Education

From 1885 to 1890, Scheel studied at the '' Universität Rostock'' and the ''Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität'' (today, the '' Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin''). He received his doctorate in 1890, at the University of Berlin, with a thesis on the expansion of water with temperature. Scheel was authorized to use the title ''Professor'', hence, at some point, he completed the requirements for

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

Career

After receipt of his doctorate, Scheel became a part-time assistant at the ''Kaiserliche Normal-Aichungs-Commission'' (Imperial Bureau of Standards). From 1891, he was employed at the ''Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt'' (PTR, Reich Physical and Technical Institute, after 1945 renamed the ''

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, with scientific and technical service tasks. It is a higher federal authority and a public-law institution directly under fed ...

''). From 1904 to 1931, he was a ''Mitglied'' (member) and finally ''Geheimer Regierungsrat und Leiter'' (senior executive officer and head) of Depeartment IIIb at the PTR. Additionally, Scheel served as editor of various publications. From 1899 to 1918, he was editor of the journal ''Fortschritte der Physik'' and of the semi-monthly bibliographic section of the journal ''Physikalische Berichte''. From 1902, he was the editor of the ''Verhandlungen'' (Proceedings) of the ''

Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The DPG's membership peaked ...

'' (DPG, German Physical Society), and from 1920 editor of the society’s journal ''

Zeitschrift für Physik ''Zeitschrift für Physik'' (English: ''Journal for Physics'') is a defunct series of German peer-reviewed physics journals established in 1920 by Springer Berlin Heidelberg. The series ended publication in 1997, when it merged with other journal ...

''. From 1926 to 1935, he was editor of the prestigious, multi-volume series ''Handbuch der Physik'', together with

Hans Geiger Johannes Wilhelm Geiger ( , ; ; 30 September 1882 – 24 September 1945) was a German nuclear physicist. He is known as the inventor of the Geiger counter, a device used to detect ionizing radiation, and for carrying out the Rutherford scatt ...

Honor

Scheel and his wife Melida left an endowment which is used by the ''Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin'' (PGzB, Physical Society in Berlin), a regional association of the ''

'' (German Physical Society), to yearly award the ''Karl-Scheel-Preis'' ( Karl Scheel Prize), for outstanding scientific work.Karl-Scheel-Preis der Physikalischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin
– Karl Scheel Prize

Literature by Scheel

*Karl Scheel ''Die Physikalisch Technische Reichsanstalt in Charlottenburg'', ''Akademische Rundschau'' (January, 1913), as cited in E. S. Hodgson ''Twenty-Five Years' Work at the Physikalisch - Technische Reichsanstalt, Charlottenburg'', ''Nature'' Volume 91, Issue 2287, 665-667

*Karl Scheel ''Die Physik auf der 85. Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte in Wien, September 1913'', '' Die Naturwissenschaften'' Volume 1, 1175–1179 (28 November 1913) and 1205–1208 (5 December 1913) *Scheel, Holborn, Jaeger, and Brodhun ''Die Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt; Fünfundzwanzig Jahre ihrer Tätigkeit'', ''Die Naturwissenschafien'' Numbers 8, 10, 12, and 14 (1913), as cited in E. S. Hodgson ''Twenty-Five Years' Work at the Physikalisch - Technische Reichsanstalt, Charlottenburg'', ''Nature'' Volume 91, 665-667, Issue 2287
28 August 1913
*Karl Scheel (Geh. Reg.-Rat. Prof. Dr.) ''Die Tätigkeit der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt im Jahre 1916: Abteilung III für Wärme und Druck'', ''Die Naturwissenschaften'' Volume 5, Number 47, 704 – 705
November, 1917
. Affiliation: ''Mitglied der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt, Berlin-Dahlem''. *Karl Scheel ''Die Tätigkeit der Physikalisch - Technischen Reichsanstalt im Jahre 1918'', '' Die Naturwissenschaften'' Volume 7, Number 52, 997 – 1002
December, 1919
. Affiliation: ''Mitglied der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt, Berlin-Dahlem''.

Bibliography

*H. Ebert ''Karl Scheel'', ''Zeitschrift für Physik'' Volume 104, Numbers 1-2, I – III (January, 1937). Affiliation: Berlin-Wilmersdorf. *Hentschel, Klaus (Editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (Editorial Assistant and Translator) ''Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources'' (Birkhäuser, 1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheel, Karl 1866 births 1936 deaths 20th-century German physicists 19th-century German physicists