Georg Pfotzer (29 November 1909 – 24 July 1981) 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 ...

. He was a student of

Erich Regener Erich Rudolf Alexander Regener (12 November 1881 – 27 February 1955) was a German physicist known primarily for the design and construction of instruments to measure cosmic ray intensity at various altitudes. He is also known for predicting ...

in the 1930s and worked with Regener to investigate

cosmic rays Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our ow ...

by using balloons to carry scientific instruments such as Geiger counters to the upper atmosphere.Erich Regener and the ionisation maximum of the atmosphere
/ref> The terms ''Pfotzer curve'' and ''Pfotzer maximum'', relating to the distribution of charged particles in the atmosphere resulting from

, are named after him. It has been suggested that this is misleading, as Regener was the principal investigator, but he was persecuted and forced to resign during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

era as his wife was of Jewish ancestry. He was director of the

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (abbreviation: MPS; german: Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung) is a research institute in astronomy and astrophysics located in Göttingen, Germany, where it relocated in February 201 ...

between 1965 and 1977.

External links

Helmut Rosenbauer: ''Nachruf für Professor Dr.-Ing. Georg Pfotzer (29. 11. 1909 - 24. 7. 1981)''
in

Physikalische Blätter ''Physik Journal'' is the official journal of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Before 2002 it was named ''Physikalische Blätter''. History The ''Physikalische Blätter'' was founded in 1943 by Ernst Brüche, who was also the editor from ...

Publications

* Regener, E. and Pfotzer, G.: Messungen der Ultrastrahlung in der oberen Atmosphäre mit dem Zählrohr (in German), Phys. Zeit. 35, 779–784, 1934. * Regener E. and Pfotzer, G.: Intensity of the Cosmic Ultra-Radiation in the Stratosphere with the Tube-Counter, Nature, 134, 325–325, 1935 * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfotzer, Georg 20th-century German physicists 1909 births 1981 deaths Cosmic ray physicists Max Planck Institute directors