![Friedrich Schmidt-Ott c1917](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Friedrich_Schmidt-Ott_c1917.jpg)
Friedrich Gustav Adolf Eduard Ludwig Schmidt-Ott (until 1920 his surname was Schmidt) (4 June 1860, in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
– 28 April 1956, in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
) was a German lawyer, scientific organizer, and science policymaker. He was the Prussian Minister of Culture, president of the
Emergency Association of German Science, on the advisory boards of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Society
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...
and its institutes, and chairman of the Donor Federation of the Emergency Association of German Science.
Education
Schmidt-Ott had a degree in law.
[
]
Career
From 1888, Schmidt-Ott was at the ''Preußisches Kultusministerium'' (PrKM, Prussian Culture Ministry), officially the ''Preußisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Kunst und Volksbildung'' Prussian Ministry of Science, Arts, and Culture. For many years, he was assistant to Friedrich Althoff. From 1903, Schmidt-Ott was head of the arts division, and from 1917, he was the ''Preußischen Kultusminister'' (Prussian Minister of Culture), which included responsibility for education.[Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; See the entry for Schmidt-Ott.]
In 1895 he married Margaretha "Meta" Luise Ott (Ott-Däniker) (July 2, 1869 – 1963). Since the time of his silver wedding anniversary in 1920, in honor of his wife he began calling himself Friedrich Schmidt-Ott instead of Friedrich Schmidt.
From 1911 to 1919, Schmidt-Ott was on the boards of trustees of all the institutes of the ''Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...
'' (KWG, Kaiser Wilhelm Society). From 1920 to 1937, Schmidt-Ott was second vice-president (practically, acting vice president) of the KWG and then honorary member of the supervisory board of the society.[
The '']Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft The ''Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft'' (Emergency Association of German Science) or NG was founded on 30 October 1920 on the initiative of leading members of the ''Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften'' (Prussian Academy of Sciences, ...
'' (NG, Emergency Association of German Science) was founded on 30 October 1920 on the initiative of leading members of the '' Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' (PAW, Prussian Academy of Sciences.) – Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber (; 9 December 186829 January 1934) was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen ...
, Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
, and Ernst von Harnack
Ernst Wolf Alexander Oskar Harnack (15 July 1888 – 5 March 1945), granted the title von Harnack in 1914, was an official of the Prussian provincial government, a German politician, and a German Resistance fighter. He was arrested, tried and ...
– and the former ''Preußischen Kultusminister'' Friedrich Schmidt-Ott. The physicist Heinrich Konen
Heinrich Matthias Konen (16 September 1874 in Cologne – 31 December 1948 in Bad Godesberg) was a German physicist who specialized in spectroscopy. He was a founder and organizer of the Emergency Association of German Science, and he was a me ...
, due to his relationship with Schmidt-Ott, was involved in the founding and organization, and he became a longstanding member of its main committee. Members of the NG included all German universities, all polytechnics (''Technische Hochschule
A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ). ...
n''), the five scientific academies, and the ''Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...
''. From 1920 to 1934 Schmidt-Ott was president of the NG, when he was then succeeded by Johannes Stark
Johannes Stark (, 15 April 1874 – 21 June 1957) was a German physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields". This phen ...
, who was a supporter of the ''deutsche Physik
''Deutsche Physik'' (, "German Physics") or Aryan Physics (german: Arische Physik) was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s which had the support of many eminent physicists in Germany. The term was taken ...
'' movement. When Minister Bernhard Rust of the ''Reichserziehungsministerium
The Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture (german: , also unofficially known as the "Reich Education Ministry" (german: ), or "REM") existed from 1934 until 1945 under the leadership of Bernhard Rust and was responsible for unifying t ...
'' (REM, Reich Ministry of Education) fired Schmidt-Ott from the presidency of the NG, he told Schmidt-Ott it was on the personal order of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.[
From 1934 to 1945, Schmidt-Ott was chairman of the '' Stifterverband der Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft'' (Donor Federation of the Emergency Association of German Science), founded in 1920 to collect donations for the ''Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft''.][Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix A; see the entry for the ''Stifterverband''.]
After WW2 Schmidt-Ott became honorary president of the newly established Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
.
Honors
* 1929 Harnack Medal of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...
* 1930: Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches
The ''Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches'' ( en, Eagle Shield of the German Reich) was an honorary award (german: Ehrengabe) granted by the German president for scholarly or artistic achievements. It was introduced during the Weimar Republic, under ...
* 1930: Honorary doctor of the Universität Wien
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
* 1933: Honorary member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
* 1951: Commander's Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany
* 1960: Change of the name of the former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße in Berlin-Steglitz
Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German .
Steglitz was also a borough from 1920 to 2000. It contained the ...
to Schmidt-Ott-Straße
References
Bibliography
*Hentschel, Klaus (Editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (Editorial Assistant and Translator) ''Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources'' (Birkhäuser, 1996)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt-Ott, Friedrich
Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1860 births
1956 deaths
Education ministers of Prussia