J. Hans D. Jensen

Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen (; 25 June 1907 – 11 February 1973) was a German nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranium Club, where he contributed to the separation of uranium isotopes. After the war, Jensen was a professor at the University of Heidelberg. He was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Institute for Advanced Study, University of California, Berkeley, Indiana University, and the California Institute of Technology.

Jensen shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics with Eugene Wigner and Maria Goeppert Mayer, sharing one half of it with the latter for their model of the atomic nucleus.

Education

Jensen studied physics, mathematics, physical chemistry and philosophy at the '' Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg'' and University of Hamburg from 1926 to 1931, and received his doctorate at the latter in 1932 under Wilhelm Lenz. He completed his habilitation in 1936 at the University of Hamburg.Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, 363-364 and Appendix F; see the entry for Johannes Jensen

Career

In 1937 Jensen was Privatdozent (unpaid lecturer) at the University of Hamburg and began working with Paul Harteck, director of the university's physical chemistry department and advisor to the ''Heereswaffenamt'' (HWA, Army Ordnance Office) on explosives. Harteck and his teaching assistant Wilhelm Groth made contact with the ''Reichskriegsministerium'' (RKM, Reich Ministry of War) on 24 April 1939 to tell them of potential military applications of nuclear chain reactions. Military control of the German nuclear energy project, also known as the ''Uranverein'' (Uranium Club), began on 1 September 1939, the day that Nazi Germany initiated World War II by invading Poland. Harteck, one of the principals in the ''Uranverein'', brought Jensen into the project. Jensen's main thrust was on double centrifuges for separation of uranium isotopes (see the section below citing internal reports of the ''Uranverein''). Harteck and Jensen developed a double centrifuge based on a rocking process (''Schaukelverfahren'') to facilitate the separation effect.

In 1941 Jensen was named extraordinarius professor of theoretical physics at the ''Technische Hochschule Hannover'' (today, the Leibniz University Hannover), and in 1946 became an ordinarius professor there. In 1949 he was appointed ordinarius professor at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg; and, from 1969 on, was emeritus praecox. He was a guest professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1951), the Institute for Advanced Study (1952), University of California, Berkeley (1952), Indiana University (1953), California Institute of Technology (1953), University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (1956), and University of California, San Diego (1961).

In 1963 Jensen shared half of the Nobel Prize in Physics with Maria Goeppert-Mayer for their proposal of the nuclear shell model; the other half of the prize was awarded to Eugene Wigner for unrelated work in nuclear and particle physics.

Jensen died on 11 February, 1973 at Heidelberg aged 65.

Party memberships

Adolf Hitler took power on 30 January 1933. On 7 April of that year the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was enacted; this law, and its subsequent related ordinances, politicized the education system in Germany. Other factors enforcing the politicization of education were '' Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers Party) organizations in academia and the rise of the ''Deutsche Physik'' movement, which was anti-Semitic and had a bias against theoretical physics, especially including quantum mechanics. The Party organizations were the ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund'' (NSDStB, National Socialist German Student League) founded in 1926, the ''Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund'' (NSLB, National Socialist Teachers League) founded in 1927, and the ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund'' (NSDDB, National Socialist German University Lecturers League) founded in 1933. While membership in the NSDDB was not mandatory, it was tactically advantageous, if not unavoidable, as the district leaders had a decisive role in the acceptance of an ''Habilitationsschrift'', which was a prerequisite to attaining the rank of ''Privatdozent'' necessary to becoming a university lecturer.

While all German universities were politicized, not all were as strict in carrying out this end as was the University of Hamburg, where Jensen received his doctorate and ''Habilitationsschrift''. Upon his 1936 ''habilitation'' he had been a member of NSDDB for three years, the NSLB for two years, and a candidate for membership in NSDAP, which he received the next year. The university leader of NSLB had made it clear that active participation was expected from Jensen, and that is what they got.

After World War II the denazification process began. When Jensen faced the proceedings, he turned to Werner Heisenberg, a prominent member of the ''Uranverein'', for a testament to his character – a document known as a '' Persilschein'' (whitewash certificate). Heisenberg was a particularly powerful writer of these documents; as he had never been a member of NSDAP, he had publicly clashed with NSDAP and the Schutzstaffel (SS), and was appointed by the British occupation authorities to the chair for theoretical physics and the directorship of the '' Max-Planck Institut für Physik'' then in Göttingen. Heisenberg wrote the document and convinced the authorities that Jensen had joined the Party organizations only to avoid unnecessary difficulties in academia.

Honors

Honors conferred upon Jensen include:
*1947 – Honorary professor at the University of Hamburg
*1963 – Nobel Prize in Physics
*1964 – Honorary doctorate from the ''Technische Universität Hannover'' (today, the Leibniz University Hannover)
*1969 – Honorary citizen of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Internal reports

The following reports were published in '' Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte'' (''Research Reports in Nuclear Physics''), an internal publication of the German ''Uranverein''. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission for evaluation. In 1971 the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics.Walker, 1993, pp. 268-274
* Paul Harteck, Johannes Jensen, Friedrich Knauer, and Hans Suess ''Über die Bremsung, die Diffusion und den Einfang von Neutronen in fester Kohlensäure und über ihren Einfang in Uran'' G-36 (19 August 1940)
*Paul Harteck and Johannes Jesnsen ''Der Thermodiffusionseffekt im Zusammenspiel mit der Konvektion durch mechanisch bewegte Wände und Vergleich mit der Thermosiphonwirkung'' G-89 (18 February 1941)
*Johannes Jensen ''Über die Ultrazentrifugenmethode zur Trennung der Uranisotope'' G-95 (December 1941)
*Paul Harteck and Johannes Jensen ''Gerechnung des Trenneffektes und der Ausbeute verschiedner Zentrifugenanordnungen zur Erhöhung des Wirkungsgrades einer einselnen Zentrifuge'' G-158 (February 1943)
*Paul Harteck, Johannes Jensen, and Albert Suhr ''Über den Zusammenhang zwischen Ausbeute und Trennschärfe bei der Niederdruckkolonne'' G-159

Bibliography

Books

* Konrad Beyerle, Wilhelm Groth, Paul Harteck, and Johannes Jensen ''Über Gaszentrifugen: Anreicherung der Xenon-, Krypton- und der Selen-Isotope nach dem Zentrifugenverfahren'' (Chemie, 1950); cited in Walker, 1993, p. 278

Articles

*Otto Haxel, J. Hans D. Jensen, and Hans E. Suess ''On the "Magic Numbers" in Nuclear Structure'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 75, 1766 - 1766 (1949). Institutional affiliations: Haxel: ''Max-Planck Institut für Physik, Göttingen''; Jensen: ''Institut für theoretische Physik, Heidelberg''; and Suess: ''Inst. für physikalische Chemie, Hamburg''. Received 18 April 1949.
*Helmut Steinwedel, J. Hans D. Jensen, and Peter Jensen ''Nuclear Dipole Vibrations'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 79, Issue 6, 1019 - 1019 (1950). Institutional affiliations: Steinwedel and J. H. D. Jensen - ''Institut für theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg'' and Peter Jensen - ''Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg''. Received 10 July 1950.

Notes

Sources

*Beyerchen, Alan D. ''Scientists Under Hitler: Politics and the Physics Community in the Third Reich'' (Yale, 1977)
*Hentschel, Klaus, editor and Ann M. Hentschel, editorial assistant and Translator ''Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources'' (Birkhäuser, 1996)
*Hoffmann, Dieter ''Between Autonomy and Accommodation: The German Physical Society during the Third Reich'', ''Physics in Perspective'' 7(3) 293-329 (2005)
*Jensen, J. Hans D. ''Glimpses at the History of the Nuclear Structure Theory'', ''The Nobel Prize in Physics 1963'' (12 December 1963)
*Schaaf, Michael ''Heisenberg, Hitler und die Bombe. Gespräche mit Zeitzeugen'' (GNT-Verlag, Diepholz 2018)
*Stech, Berthold ''J.H.D. Jensen: Personal recollection'
University of Heidelberg
*Walker, Mark ''German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939–1949'' (Cambridge, 1993)

External links

* including his Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1963 ''Glimpses at the History of the Nuclear Structure Theory''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, J. Hans D.
1907 births
1973 deaths
German Nobel laureates
German nuclear physicists
Nobel laureates in Physics
Studienstiftung alumni
University of Hamburg alumni
Academic staff of Leibniz University Hannover
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Academic staff of Heidelberg University
Nuclear program of Nazi Germany
Nazi Party members
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Academic staff of the University of Hamburg