Paul Oppenheim (June 17, 1885 – June 22, 1977) was a German
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
, philosopher, independent scholar and industrialist.
Biography
Oppenheim was born in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
. After studying natural sciences and chemistry at the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...
, he earned his doctorate in chemistry and philosophy. He was active in the chemical industry (
IG Farben
Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies— BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agf ...
) until 1933, when he emigrated to Brussels. His father, the Frankfurt gem dealer Nathan Moritz Oppenheim (1848–1933), and his mother took their life together in 1933. In 1939, Oppenheim and his family emigrated to the US, where he worked as a private scholar in
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...
. He and his wife Gabrielle Oppenheim-Errera hosted Sunday luncheons there for intellectuals and artists.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...
was his great friend and they took regular Sunday morning walks together.
After the beginning of
Nazi rule in Germany, he gave several persecuted scientists such as
Carl Gustav Hempel
Carl Gustav "Peter" Hempel (January 8, 1905 – November 9, 1997) was a German writer, philosopher, logician, and epistemologist. He was a major figure in logical empiricism, a 20th-century movement in the philosophy of science. He is e ...
and
Kurt Grelling
Kurt Grelling (2 March 1886 – September 1942) was a German logician and philosopher, member of the Berlin Circle.
Life and work
Kurt Grelling was born on 2 March 1886 in Berlin. His father, the Doctor of Jurisprudence Richard Grelling, ...
financial resources and assistance to escape from Germany.
He published with Hempel and Grelling on philosophy and
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
, including
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward ...
. Oppenheim is co-founder of the so-called Hempel-Oppenheim schema (
Deductive-nomological model
The deductive-nomological model (DN model) of scientific explanation, also known as Hempel's model, the Hempel–Oppenheim model, the Popper–Hempel model, or the covering law model, is a formal view of scientifically answering questions asking, ...
) .
Publications
*Hempel, CG and Oppenheim, P.: "The type concept in light of the new logic. Theoretical studies on the constitution and psychology research.
*Kurt Grelling and Paul Oppenheim, "The Gestalt concept in light of the new logic," cognition 7 (1937/38), 211–225
ngl. Translation: 1988.1
*Kurt Grelling and Paul Oppenheim, Supplementary Remarks on the Concept of Gestalt, "cognition 7 (1937/38), 357–359
eprinted: 1988.2
*Kurt Grelling and Paul Oppenheim, "Concerning the Structure of Wholes", Philosophy of Science 6 (1939), 487–488.
*Kurt Grelling and Paul Oppenheim, Logical Analysis of "Gestalt" as "Functional Whole"
aper sent in for the Fifth International Congress for the Unity of Science (Cambridge, Mass., 1939) TS, 8 p.
y Carl G . Hempel, Princeton, reprint: 1988.3, 1999.1
* Paul Oppenheim and Nicholas Rescher, "Logical Analysis of Gestalt Concepts", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, vol. 6 (1955), pp. 89–106.
*Paul Oppenheim and Hilary Putnam : "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis". In: ''Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science'', 1958
References
* Nicholas Rescher, ''H2O Hempel-Helmer-Oppenheim: in his Studies in Twentieth Century Philosophy'' (Frankfurt: ONTOS Verlag, 2005).
* Joseph Walker (Eds.), short biographies of the history of the Jews from 1918 to 1945 . ed. by the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem. Munich: Saur, 1988
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheim, Paul
Philosophers of science
1885 births
1977 deaths