Otto Hittmair (1924–2003) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

theoretical physicist who made contributions to

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

and

unified field theory In physics, a unified field theory (UFT) is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a pair of physical and virtual fields. According to the modern ...

. From 1987 to 1991 he was President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Wilhelm Exner Medal foundation
Otto Hittmair

Life

Otto Hittmair was born in Innsbruck (Tyrol) on March 16, 1924. He graduated with distinction from the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

in 1942. He worked with

Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (, ; ; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as or , was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist with Irish citizenship who developed a number of fundamental results in quantum theory ...

at the

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...

in the late 1940s and together with him, published work on a

. He worked abroad at the

Institut Henri Poincaré The Henri Poincaré Institute (or IHP for ''Institut Henri Poincaré'') is a mathematics research institute part of Sorbonne University, in association with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). It is located in the 5th arrond ...

, the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in Cambridge where he was a Fulbright scholar. His specialty was nuclear reactions, especially stripping reactions, in which nucleons are exchanged between the scattering nuclei. In 1958-1960 he worked at the Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities and in 1960 became Professor of Theoretical Physics and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the Technical University of Vienna. He was Dean of the Faculty of Science from 1968 to 1969 and then

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the Technical University of Vienna from 1977 to 1979. Otto Hittmair died on September 5, 2003 in a climbing accident in the

Nordkette The Nordkette, also variously called the North Chain, Northern Range, rarely the Inn Valley Range or Inn Valley Chain (''Inntalkette''), is a range of mountains just north of the city of Innsbruck in Austria. It is the southernmost of the four g ...

mountain range near Innsbruck. The main-belt asteroid 10782 Hittmair discovered in 1991 is named after him. Otto-Hittmair-Platz in Innsbruck is named in his honor.

Works

* 1951 ''Studies in the generalized theory of gravitation'' (with Erwin Schrödinger), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies * 1957 ''Nuclear Stripping Reactions'' (with S. T. Buttler and Stuart Thomas), Horwitz Publications * 1971 ''Wärmetheorie'' (with G. Adam), Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, * 1972 ''Lehrbuch der Quantentheorie'', Verlag Karl Thiemig, January 1, 1972, Austria-Forum
Hittmair, Otto * 1979 ''Supraleitung'' (mit H. Weber), K. Thiemig,
/ref> * 1987 '' ttps://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564253.014 Schrödinger's unified field theory seen 40 years later (Editor C. W. Kilmister), Technische Universitӓt Wien * 1997 ''Akademie der Wissenschaften : Entwicklung einer österreichischen Forschungsinstitution'' (with Herbert Hunger), Verlag der Österreichischen, Vienna,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hittmair, Otto Austrian nuclear physicists Scientists from Innsbruck Academic staff of TU Wien 1924 births 2003 deaths Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies