Rudolf Brill

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Rudolf Brill (September 7, 1899 in Eschwege โ€“ February 17, 1989 in Lenggries)[1] was a German chemist.[2]

Education and career

Rudolf Friedrich Heinrich Erhard Ernst Brill was born in

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.[3]

After completing his doctorate, he moved to a research laboratory at

Ludwigshafen-Oppau, where he worked from 1923 till 1941.[1] During this time, Brill published the first work on electron densities in crystals and established the experimental method for the determination of electron densities.[4][5]

In 1941, Brill became the successor to

Technical University of Darmstadt. Brill was appointed to the Chair of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry and at the same time was made head of the institute. Due to his special professional and organizational skills, Brill was the only candidate that the university suggested to the state government. As the successor to Eduard Zintl, who was promoted by the Gauleiter Jakob Sprenger, Brill had a new building, about half-completed, with generous financial and human resources at his disposal. Brill was able to move into his office and some laboratories when he took up his duties.[6]

In the course of his appointment to Darmstadt, Brill applied for admission to the

Technical University of Darmstadt
who was already a professor at the time he took over the position. According to his colleagues Wilhelm Schlink (physicist) and Erich Reuleaux, he is said to have exercised the office "apolitically".

Brill was involved in "research projects important to the war effort". He was particularly successful in raising third-party funds. In 1942, his institute for inorganic and physical chemistry was classified as a "military enterprise", which was associated with certain privileges for the institute. After the American army marched into Darmstadt in March 1945, the usable parts of the new institute building at Herrngarten were used as a medical center. As a result, there were practically no more job opportunities for Brill.[7]

Brill was dismissed from government service on June 25, 1946, for "political reasons".

From 1941 to 1947 Rudolf Brill was also an honorary professor at the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
in the State of New York.

At the end of the 1950s he returned to Germany. In 1958 he was appointed director of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin and took over the management from Max von Laue on March 1, 1959. He retained this position until 1969.[8] From 1967 until his retirement in 1969, he was also Director of the Faculty of Physical Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute. From 1958 he was an honorary professor of physical chemistry at the Free University of Berlin and also at the University of Heidelberg.[9]

Personal life

Brill had been married to Else Rutloff since 1924. He died at the age of 89 at his retirement home in Lenggries in Upper Bavaria. His grave is in the Waldfriedhof Darmstadt.

Honors and awards

Brill became an Ordinary member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1942. He was awarded Johann Joseph Ritter von Prechtl Medal in 1965.[10] He became an honorary member of the German Chemical Society in 1979.

References

  1. ^ a b "Hessian Biography : Rudolf Friedrich Heinrich Erhard Ernst Brill : LAGIS Hessen". www.lagis-hessen.de. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  2. ISBN 978-0-8412-0668-7
    .
  3. OCLC 55220373
    .
  4. doi:10.1002/ange.19380512002
    .
  5. doi:10.1002/andp.19394260502
    .
  6. ^ "ChemieFreunde Erkner e. V. - Brill, Rudolf". www.chemieforum-erkner.de. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  7. ^ "Rudolf Brill". dfg-vk-darmstadt.de. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  8. ^ "FHI History". www.fhi.mpg.de. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  9. ISBN 978-3-11-023954-6
    .
  10. ^ "Prechtl Medals | TU Wien". www.tuwien.at. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
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