Klara Döpel

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Klara (Minna) Renate Döpel (née Mannß; 1900 – 6 April 1945 in

German nuclear energy project
. Klara was killed in an air raid near the end of World War II.

Education

Klara Döpel studied law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and worked as a lawyer until 1933. In 1934, she married the nuclear physicist Robert Döpel. She changed her area of studies to physics at the Julius Maximilian University Würzburg.[1]

Career

In 1938, Klara Döpel followed her husband Robert to

German nuclear energy project began, Heisenberg and his staff worked on major components of the program including isotope separation, measurements of nuclear constants, and the Uranmaschine (uranium machine, i.e., nuclear reactor). Klara and Robert worked together on Uranmaschine experimental configurations designated L 1 through L 4. Klara and Robert Döpel and Heisenberg published the Deutsche Forschungsberichte reporting on the experiments conducted there.[2][3][4][5]

In August 1940, Robert and Klara Döpel, working in Leipzig, showed the utility of using

Heereswaffenamt (HWA, Army Ordnance Office) to the Reichsforschungsrat (RFR, Reich Research Council).[7][8]

In a letter written in December 1943, Robert Döpel recounted that air raids had destroyed 75% of Leipzig, including his institute. Air raids during that year had also burned down Döpel's apartment building and Heisenberg's house in Leipzig. Sixteen months later, on 6 April 1945, just 32 days before the surrender of Germany, Klara was killed in an air raid, while she was working in the physics building.[1][9]

Internal reports

The following reports were published in

Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics.[10][11]

  • Robert Döpel, K. Döpel, and Werner Heisenberg Bestimmung der Diffusionslänge thermischer Neutronen in Präparat 38[12] (5 December 1940). G-22.
  • Robert Döpel, K. Döpel, and Werner Heisenberg Bestimmung der Diffusionslänge thermischer Neutronen in schwerem Wasser (7 August 1940). G-23.
  • Robert Döpel, K. Döpel, and Werner Heisenberg Versuche mit Schichtenanordnungen von D2O und 38 (28 October 1941). G-75.
  • Robert Döpel, K. Döpel, and Werner Heisenberg Der experimentelle Nachweis der effektiven Neutronenvermehrung in einem Kugel-Schichten-System aus D2O und Uran-Metall (July 1942). G-136.
  • Robert Döpel, K. Döpel, and Werner Heisenberg Die Neutronenvermehrung in einem D2O-38-Metallschichtensystem (March 1942). G-373.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Klara Döpel.
  2. ^ Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Klara and Robert Döpel.
  3. ^ Walker, 1993, 53.
  4. ^ Document #95 Werner Heisenberg. The Theoretical Basis for the Generation of Energy from Uranium Fission [February 26, 1942] in Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996) pp. 294-301; see footnote #15 on p. 300.
  5. ^ Document #115 Werner Heisenberg: Research in Germany on Technical Applications of Atomic Energy [August 16, 1947] in Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996) pp. 361-379; see footnote #47 on p. 371.
  6. ^ Robert Döpel, K. Döpel, and Werner Heisenberg Der experimentelle Nachweis der effektiven Neutronenvermehrung in linem Kugel-Schichten-System aus D2O und Uran-Metall (July 1942). G-136, as cited in Walker, 1993, 272.
  7. ^ Walker, 1993, 27, 39-40, and 84-85.
  8. ^ Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix B; see the entry for the Heereswaffenamt.
  9. ^ Walker, 1993, 125 and 134.
  10. ^ Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix E; see the entry for Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte.
  11. ^ Walker, 1993, 268-274.
  12. ^ Präparat 38 was the cover name for uranium oxide; see Deutsches Museum.

References

  • Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996)
    ISBN 0-8176-5312-0
  • Walker, Mark German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939–1949 (Cambridge, 1993)
    ISBN 0-521-43804-7
  • Werner Heisenberg, Robert Döpel, Wilhelm Hanle, and Käthe Mitzenheim Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig 1927-1942 (Wiley-VCH Weinheim, 1993)
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