Karl Lintner (1917 – 11 February 2015) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he did research on the inelastic dispersion of fast neutrons in uranium. After the war, he taught and did nuclear research at the University of Vienna. He was a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Education

From 1936 to 1940, Lintner studied physics at 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 ...

''. He received his doctorate in 1940, under

Georg Stetter Georg Carl Stetter (23 December 1895 – 14 July 1988) was an Austrian-German nuclear physicist. Stetter was Director of the Second Physics Institute of the University of Vienna. He was a principal member of the German nuclear energy project, also ...

Career

From 1941, Lintner was a teaching assistant to

at the ''

''. During

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 opposin ...

, Lintner worked on a team headed by

, a principal working on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the ''Uranverein'' (Uranium Club). Stetter led a group of six physicists and physical chemists in measuring atomic constants and neutron cross sections, as well as investigating

transuranic elements The transuranium elements (also known as transuranic elements) are the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 92, which is the atomic number of uranium. All of these elements are unstable and decay radioactively into other elements. ...

; in 1943, Stetter held the unified directorship of the ''Institut für Neutronenforschung'' (Institute for Neutron Research), the ''II. Physikalische Institut'' and the ''Institut für Neutronenforschung'' (Institute for Neutron Research). Lintner did research on the inelastic dispersion of fast neutrons in

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

. From 1945, Lintner was an assistant at the ''II. Physikalische Institut der Wiener Universität'' (Second Physics Institute of the University of Vienna), under Eduard Haschek, Karl Przibram, and Erich Schmid. From 1949, he was a

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

at the University. Around 1959, he was a titular ''

ausserordentlicher Professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...

'' (extraordinarius professor) there, and later an '' ordentlicher Professor'' (ordinarius professor). He was a full member of the Section for Mathematics and the Natural Sciences of the '' Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften''

Classified reports

*Georg Stetter and Karl Lintner ''Schnelle Neutronen im Uran. Der Zuwachs durch den Spaltprozeß und der Abfall durch unelastische Streuung'' (7 November 1941). The following are cited as ''Geheimberichte'' (secret reports) on German nuclear research from the period 1939 to 1945 and which are being held in the ''Stadtarchiv Haigerloch'': * Georg Stetter and Karl Lintner ''Schnelle Neutronen in Uran (I)'' *G. Stetter and K. Lintner ''Schnelle Neutronen in Uran (II und III): Streuversuche'' *K. Lintner ''Schnelle Neutronen in Uranoxyd IV'' * W. Jentschke and K. Lintner ''Schnelle Neutronen in Uran V''. This paper is also identified as G-277. There are nearly 400 reports in the G-series. Many of the reports in this series were published in ''

Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte ''Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte'' (''Research Reports in Nuclear Physics'') was an internal publication of the German ''Uranverein'', which was initiated under the ''Heereswaffenamt'' (Army Ordnance Office) in 1939; in 1942, supervision of ...

'' (''Research Reports in Nuclear Physics''), an internal publication of the German ''

Uranverein The Uranverein ( en, "Uranium Club") or Uranprojekt ( en, "Uranium Project") was the name given to the project in Germany to research nuclear technology, including nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, during World War II. It went through s ...

''. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos and sent to the

United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President H ...

for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the

Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

and the American Institute of Physics.Walker, 1993, 268-274.

Literature by Lintner

*K. Lintner, H. Moser, and J. Cerny ''On Spherical Setups used for the Determination of Cross Sections for Fast-Neutron Phenomena''

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

''Sitzber. Osterr. Akad. Wiss., Math.-naturw. Klasse, Abt. IIa'' Volume 158, 123-34 (1950) *K. Lintner ''Interaction of Fast Neutrons with the Heaviest Stable Nuclei (bi, Pb, Tl, and Hg)''

''Acta Phys. Aust.'' Volume 3, 352-83 (1950) *E. Schmid and K. Lintner ''Further Research on The Effects of Radiation on Metals''

''Z. Metallk.'' Volume 51, 615-20 (1960). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. *K. Lintner and E. Schmid ''The Problem of Radiation Influence of Solid Bodies'', ''Nukleonik'' Volume 1, 29-40 (1958). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. *K. Lintner ''Effect of Irradiation on the Plasticity of Metal Crystals''

''Acta Physica Austriaca'' Volume 16, 256-64 (1963). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. *K. Lintner ''Nuclear Physics Methods in Metal Physics''

''Acta Physica Austriaca'', Volume 18, 116-45 (1964). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. *I. Schreiner and K. Lintner ''Study of Radiation Effets by Microhardness Measurements'', ''Acta Physica Austriaca'' Volume 18, 292-6 (1964). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna.

Bibliography

*Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) ''Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources'' (Birkhäuser, 1996) *Walker, Mark ''German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939–1949'' (Cambridge, 1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lintner, Karl 1917 births 2015 deaths Austrian nuclear physicists Academic staff of the University of Vienna 20th-century Austrian physicists Nuclear program of Nazi Germany