Wilhelm Carl Gottlieb Müller (September 25, 1880 – June 16, 1968) was a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. He is best known as the successor of

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in Atomic physics, atomic and Quantum mechanics, quantum physics, and also educated and ...

as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

Life

Wilhelm Müller was born in Hamburg, the son of a merchant. He studied at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

and earned his Rigorosum in mathematics, physics, and philosophy with the grade "very good". He went on to earn his PhD with

Otto Hölder Ludwig Otto Hölder (December 22, 1859 – August 29, 1937) was a German mathematician born in Stuttgart. Early life and education Hölder was the youngest of three sons of professor Otto Hölder (1811–1890), and a grandson of professor Christ ...

and Karl Rohn and a dissertation called ''"The rational curve of degree five in the five-, four-, three- and two-dimensional space"'' in 1911. At Leibniz University Hannover he got his

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 ...

and became a

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

in 1921, and later was appointed associate professor. In 1928 he became a professor at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. He joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in 1933, and went on to join the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' in 1936. In 1934 he accepted a position as professor and director of the Aeronautical Institute at

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

. His appointment in 1939 as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the

, a chair which had previously been held by

, but had been vacant for several years, was at the center of a controversy between modern physics and German physics. Müller, an aerodynamicist, had not been thought of as a

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

before this time, and opposed the "new" theoretical physics promoted by scientists such as

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

. His appointment is seen by historians as political, and during his tenure he would teach only classical physics. He was dismissed in 1945 and barred from academia during allied denazification proceedings.

Works

* 1911 - ''The rational curve of degree five in the five-, four, three- and two-dimensional space'' (''Die rationale Kurve fünfter Ordnung im fünf-, vier-, drei- und zweidimensionalen Raum''; dissertation, Universität Leipzig, Karl Rohn,

) * 1922 - ''The sense of chastity'' (''Vom Sinn der Keuschheit'') * 1925 - ''The Eternal Grail'' (''Vom ewigen Gral'') * 1925 - ''Dynamics'' (''Dynamik'') (1952) * 1928 - ''Mathematical Fluid Mechanics'' (''Mathematische Strömungslehre'') * 1932 - ''Introduction to the theory of viscous fluids'' (''Einführung in die Theorie der zähen Flüssigkeiten'') * 1933 - ''Jewry and Leadership'' (''Judentum und Führertum'') * 1936 - ''Introduction to Aerodynamics'' (''Einführung in die Mechanik des Fluges'') (1942, 1953, 1958) * 1936 - ''Jewry and Science'' (''Judentum und Wissenschaft'') * 1941 - ''Jewish and German Physics'' (''Jüdische und Deutsche Physik''), together with Johannes Stark * 1944 - ''The Battle in Physics'' (''Kampf in der Physik'') * 1959 - ''Theory of Elastic Deformation'' (''Theorie der elastischen Verformung'')

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Wilhelm Nazi Party members Academic staff of Leibniz University Hannover Academic staff of Charles University Academic staff of RWTH Aachen University Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich 1880 births 1968 deaths 20th-century German physicists Leipzig University alumni