Hanna von Hoerner (14 November 1942 – 4 July 2014) was a German astrophysicist. She founded the company von Hoerner & Sulger which produces

scientific instrument A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for scientific purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research. History Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, an ...

s, notably cosmic dust analyzers used on space missions by European Space Agency (ESA) and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Early life

Hanna von Hoerner was born in Görlitz in 1942. Her father was the astrophysicist Sebastian von Hoerner. With his help and encouragement she repaired radios when she was six and built an oscilloscope at the age of fourteen. In the early 1960s, after finishing her '' Abitur'', (high school or secondary school,) her father moved to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in the US. Von Hoerner completed an electronics education in the United States and worked as a research assistant at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Education

In 1965, von Hoerner returned to Germany to study experimental physics at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

. In 1971 she earned an undergraduate degree and in 1974 her PhD, both at

Career

Von Hoerner, in 1973 while still working on her PhD, founded the company von Hoerner & Sulger. Based in Schwetzingen and produces

s for use in space and medicine.In 1980 von Hoerner & Sulger developed the first mass spectrometer that worked in space In 1979 van Hoerner's company was commissioned by 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 ...

to design a

cosmic dust Cosmic dust, also called extraterrestrial dust, star dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, or has fallen on Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and 0.1 mm (100 micrometers). Larger particles are c ...

detector for use in the

Vega program The Vega program (Cyrillic: ВеГа) was a series of Venus missions that also took advantage of the appearance of comet 1P/Halley in 1986. ''Vega 1'' and '' Vega 2'' were uncrewed spacecraft launched in a cooperative effort among the Soviet ...

missions to

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. In 1999 Von Hoerner & Sulger designed CIDA (Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer), a dust analysis instrument on board the NASA spacecraft '' Stardust'', which launched in 1999. The company is famous for the design of COSIMA (Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser), an instrument on board the ''

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...

'' spacecraft that analyses the composition of dust particles using

secondary ion mass spectrometry Secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a technique used to analyze the composition of solid surfaces and thin films by sputtering the surface of the specimen with a focused primary ion beam and collecting and analyzing ejected secondary ions. ...

. Early data included images of dust particles collected in the environment of Comet 67P/C-G from the nucleus approach phase until along with secondary ion mass spectra for some of those particles.

Reflections on Hanna von Hoener

The interstellar dust collector is one of the prime examples of space measuring instruments with which the Baden-based small company Hoerner & Sulger (vH & S) has made a name for itself. With just 20 employees and a turnover of 7.7 million euros last year, according to managing director Hanna von Hoerner, Veronika Szentpetery, in Technology Review 1997

Awards and recognition

* 2009 Von Hoerner was awarded the

Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg (german: link=no, Verdienstorden des Landes Baden-Württemberg) is the highest award of the German State of Baden-Württemberg. Established 26 November 1974, it was originally called the Medal of Merit of Bad ...

* 2013

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

First Class for her contributions to space science in Germany. *2016 A comet was named after her. * Member of the Space Forum in the BDLI ( Bundesverband der Deutschen Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie / German Aerospace Industries Association) * Board of Trustees of the

* DLR Space Program Committee.

Publications

COSIMA: High Resolution Time-of-Flight Secondary Mass Spectrometer for the Analysis of Cometary Dust Particles Onboard ROSETTA. ''COSIMA Cometary Dust Analysis in the inner coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko'' authors: Hilchenbach, Martin; Kissel, Jochen; Briois, Christelle; von Hoerner, Hanna; November 2014 AAS Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts ''Search for satellites near comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using Rosetta/OSIRIS images'' ''Astronomy & Astrophysics''. vol.583: A19. 10.1051/0004-6361/201525979

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoerner, Hanna von German astrophysicists 1942 births 2014 deaths German women physicists People from Görlitz Heidelberg University alumni 20th-century German physicists 21st-century German physicists 20th-century German women scientists 21st-century German women scientists Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg