Heinz Haber (May 15, 1913 in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
– February 13, 1990 in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
) 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 ...
and science writer who primarily became known for his TV programs and books about physics and
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
subjects. His lucid style of explaining hard science has frequently been imitated by later popular science presenters in Germany.
Biography
Heinz Haber was born in 1913. His father, Carl Haber, was director of "Süddeutsche Zucker AG", now known as
Südzucker
Südzucker AG (, literally ''South sugar'') is a German company, the largest sugar producer in the world, with an annual production of around 4.8 million tonnes.
In February 2014, the Federal Cartel Office imposed a joint fine of 280 million eu ...
. His older Brother Fritz Haber was an Aerospace engineer.
He started studying physics in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
,
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
1932.
In 1933, the year of its formation, he joined the
German Air Sports Association
The German Air Sports Association (''Deutscher Luftsportverband'', or DLV e. V.) was an organisation set up by the Nazi Party in March 1933 to establish a uniform basis for the training of military pilots. Its chairman was Hermann Göring and its v ...
, an organization set up by the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
that allowed him to learn flying as a fighter pilot.
1934 he interrupted his studies to volunteer in the German Airforce,
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
, partaking in several deployments. At the end of this part of his military service he was promoted to
ltd. of the reserve. He continued his studies obtaining his doctorate, Haber voluntarily participated in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
for the German
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
as a reconnaissance aviator in the
2. Staffel der (Nah-)Aufklärungsgruppe 41, which was active in the
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
and later the eastern Front. He served there until he was shot down and wounded 1942, shortly after being promoted to captain.
He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class (1939) and 1st Class (1940) during his service.
He returned to the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Physik, where he headed a small Potsdam-based division constructing a diffraction spectrograph.
After the end of the war, Haber — as well as several other Germans involved in military research like
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...
— was targeted by the
Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War ...
with the aim of denying scientific expertise and knowledge to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and bringing researchers and scientists to the United States; Ultimately this operation resulted in a considerable contribution to the development of
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 ...
. Haber at first stayed in the
American occupied zone of Germany and lectured at
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
. However, in 1946, he emigrated to the United States and joined the USAF School of Aviation Medicine at
Randolph Air Force Base
Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio).
Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the Un ...
. Together with fellow German
Hubertus Strughold, he and his brother Dr. Fritz Haber (April 3, 1912 – August 21, 1998) made pioneering research into
space medicine
Space medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both ...
in the late 1940s. The brothers proposed
parabolic flights for simulating
weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
.
In 1952, he became associate physicist at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
; in the 1950s, Haber eventually became the chief scientific consultant to
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
productions. He later co-hosted Disney’s ''Man in Space'' with von Braun. When the
Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
administration asked Disney to produce a show championing the civilian use of nuclear power, Heinz Haber was given the assignment. He hosted the Disney broadcast called ''
Our Friend the Atom'' and wrote a popular children’s book with the same title, both of which explained nuclear fission and fusion in simple terms.
General Dynamics, a manufacturer of nuclear reactors, sponsored ''Our Friend the Atom'' and the nuclear submarine ride at
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
’s Tomorrowland. He is also credited with providing the story for ''
Donald in Mathmagic Land
''Donald in Mathmagic Land'' is a 1959 American animated-live-action featurette produced by Walt Disney Productions and featuring Donald Duck. The short was directed by Hamilton Luske (with Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark, and Joshua Meador as ...
''.
In the 1960s and 1970s, he was known in Germany as a
popular science spokesperson and wrote magazine columns and numerous books and presented his own TV programs like ''Professor Haber experimentiert'', ''Das Mathematische Kabinett'', ''Unser blauer Planet'', ''Stirbt unser blauer Planet?'', ''Professor Haber berichtet'', and ''WAS IST WAS mit Professor Haber''. He was founding editor of the German science magazine ''Bild der Wissenschaft'' from 1964 to 1990. His memorable experiments included one where the onset of a
nuclear chain reaction was simulated with hundreds of
mousetraps, each one having been loaded with two
ping pong
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
balls.
[In ]Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
's film ''Our Friend the Atom'', Haber is the science presenter (se
. While explaining a chain reaction, the camera travels over a field of mousetraps, all ready to close and throw two ping pong balls in the process (see a resume in ).
Heinz Haber had two children, Kai (born 1943) and Cathleen (born 1945), from his first marriage, and a third child, Marc (born 1969), from the second. His first wife Anneliese lived and son Kai lives in Tucson, Arizona, his second wife Irmgard in Hamburg, Germany.
Connection to War crimes
Haber was a member of several Nazi organizations, although not the NSDAP. Testimonies portray Haber as an avid supporter of Hitler and the Third Reich.
He collaborated with
Hubertus Strughold, who had at least knowledge of these crimes. They share authorship and several years of work experience on the topic of low pressure experimentation. Haber also quoted data gathered in the deadly experiments without raising any ethical issues in his writings. During his lifetime he never spoke out against these methods of his peers even though the fact that they happened was public knowledge after the Nuremberg medical trials. His claiming to have long had a desire to emigrate to the USA in an interview for Operation Paperclip while also applying for a professorship in Germany is one of several indicators historians point to, labeling him as an adaptive opportunist.
References
Further reading
* Linda Hunt (1991), ''Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip'', New York: St. Martin's.
* Eric Schlosser (2001), ''Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
* Manfred Gross (2013), "Sterne, Menschen und Atome - Zum 100. Geburtstag von Heinz Haber" (German), Mannheim. Available at Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim, Stadtarchiv Mannheim - Institut für Stadtgeschichte, Planetarium Mannheim, Freundeskreis Planetarium Mannheim e.V.
External links
*
VERHEXT— a 1960s puzzle game by Heinz Haber based on
Polyiamond, hexiamonds ()
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haber, Heinz
1913 births
1990 deaths
20th-century German physicists
German science writers
German male non-fiction writers
Recipients of the Iron Cross, 1st class
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class
German World War II pilots