Eleonore Trefftz (15 August 1920 – 22 October 2017) 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 ...

known for her work on

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

and

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...

. She was appointed as a Scientific Member of the

Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics The Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics is a former institute of the Max Planck Society in Germany. Located in Munich, it was also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institute. The institute was founded in 1958 as a successor to the Max ...

in 1971.

Biography

Trefftz was born in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, on 15 August 1920. She was raised in

Loschwitz Loschwitz is a borough (''Geography and urban development of Dresden#City structuring, Stadtbezirk'') of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters (''Stadtteile''): Loschwitz is a villa quarter located at the slopes nor ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

from 1923, after her father

Erich Trefftz Erich Immanuel Trefftz (born 21 February 1888 in Leipzig, died 21 January 1937 in Dresden) was a German mathematician, aerodynamicist and university professor. Life Erich Trefftz was the son of merchant Oskar Trefftz (1848–1906) and Anna Eliza ...

was appointed as a professor of applied mechanics at

TU Dresden TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...

in 1922. Between 1941 and 1945, Trefftz studied at TU Dresden and remained here until 1948, where she engaged in research and made assignments on theoretical physics, assisted by

Friedrich Hund Friedrich Hermann Hund (4 February 1896 – 31 March 1997) was a German physicist from Karlsruhe known for his work on atoms and molecules. He is known for the Hund's rules to predict the electron configuration of chemical elements. His work on H ...

. In 1948, Trefftz became a research assistant at the

Max Planck Institute The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, where she researched the transition probabilities of

spectral line A spectral line is a weaker or stronger region in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum. It may result from emission (electromagnetic radiation), emission or absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of light in a narrow frequency ...

s. In 1971, Trefftz became a Scientific Member of the

; she was the second woman to be appointed to the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

, after

Margot Becke-Goehring Margot Becke-Goehring (born 10 June 1914 in Allenstein; died 14 November 2009 in Heidelberg) was a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg and she was the first female rector of a university in West Germany - the Heidelb ...

. While Trefftz primarily worked on

and

, she was also associated with

quantum chemistry Quantum chemistry, also called molecular quantum mechanics, is a branch of physical chemistry focused on the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems, particularly towards the quantum-mechanical calculation of electronic contributions ...

. Trefftz helped develop programming techniques to assist the Max Planck Institute in using computerised

data processing Data processing is the collection and manipulation of digital data to produce meaningful information. Data processing is a form of ''information processing'', which is the modification (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an o ...

. She spent the remainder of her scientific career at the Max Planck Institute, becoming an Emeritus Scientific Member of the Institute for Astrophysics in

Garching bei München Garching bei München (, ''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a city in Bavaria, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments, located at Campus Garching. History Spatial urban planning Garching wa ...

upon her retirement. She died in Munich on 22 October 2017. TU Dresden has introduced the Eleonore Trefftz Programme for Visiting Women Professors to support female scientists by providing year-long research and teaching roles. Minor planet 7266 Trefftz, discovered in 1973, was named in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trefftz, Eleonore 1920 births 2017 deaths 20th-century German physicists 20th-century German women scientists German women physicists Max Planck Society people Max Planck Institute directors