Gerhard Damköhler (16 March 1908 – 30 March 1944) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

chemist. From 1936 to 1944, Damköhler was the head of

chemical reaction engineering Chemical reaction engineering (reaction engineering or reactor engineering) is a specialty in chemical engineering or industrial chemistry dealing with chemical reactors. Frequently the term relates specifically to catalytic reaction systems wh ...

at the Institute of Physical Chemistry in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

Damköhler numbers The Damköhler numbers (Da) are dimensionless numbers used in chemical engineering to relate the chemical reaction timescale ( reaction rate) to the transport phenomena rate occurring in a system. It is named after German chemist Gerhard Damköhler ...

are named after Damköhler, as is the Gerhard Damköhler medal awarded by the German Association of Chemical and Process Engineering (DVCV).

Biography

Gerhard Damköhler was born on 16 March 1908 in Klingenmunster in West Central Germany, the son of a physician. Following the usual primary and gymnasium education, he enrolled in the summer of 1926 at the University of Munich to study chemistry with A. Sommerfeld, graduating five years later summa cum laude with a doctor of philosophy for a dissertation entitled "Individuality of the Osmotic Behavior of Alkalihalogenides." He remained at the university for three more years as a grant supported research fellow, during which time he began to display a marked ability for developing and applying analytical methods to practical problems in chemical engineering. This work attracted the notice of Arnold Eucken, the director of Göttingen University's Institute of Physical Chemistry, who offered Damköhler a position as an assistant that he took up in December 1934. Damköhler took his own life on 30 March 1944. Part of the reason was the political pressure put on him to contribute to the Luftwaffe's jet engine development program.

Personal life

Damköhler was described as a highly intelligent man who worked "25 hours a day". He was married for seven years and had no children.

Published work

''The Effect of Turbulence on the Flame Velocity in Gas Mixtures''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damkohler, Gerhard 1908 births 1944 deaths 20th-century German chemists Fluid dynamicists 1944 suicides Suicides in Germany