Otto Kratky (; born 9 March 1902 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

– died 11 February 1995 in Graz) 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 ...

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 ...

. He is best known for his contribution to the

small-angle X-ray scattering Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a small-angle scattering technique by which nanoscale density differences in a sample can be quantified. This means that it can determine nanoparticle size distributions, resolve the size and shape of (monodi ...

method, for the Kratky plot, and for the invention of the density metering using the

oscillating u-tube {{no footnotes, date=March 2014 The oscillating U-tube is a technique to determine the density of liquids and gases based on an electronic measurement of the frequency of oscillation, from which the density value is calculated. This measuring p ...

principle. The

worm-like chain The worm-like chain (WLC) model in polymer physics is used to describe the behavior of polymers that are semi-flexible: fairly stiff with successive segments pointing in roughly the same direction, and with persistence length within a few orders o ...

model in polymer physics, introduced with

Günther Porod Günther Porod (; 1919 in Faak am See near Villach – 1984 in Graz) was an Austrian physicist. He is best known for his work on the small-angle X-ray scattering method, done in collaboration with his teacher Otto Kratky, and in particular f ...

in a 1949 paper, is also named the Kratky–Porod model.

Education and career

Otto Kratky was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

as the son of the painter Rudolf Kratky. After graduating from high school, he studied chemistry at the

Technical University Vienna TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

and completed his studies in 1929 with a doctorate. After completing his university education, he became an assistant at the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...

Berlin-Dahlem Dahlem ( or ) is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. It is located between the mansion settlements of Grunewald and ...

in 1928, a position he held until 1933. He then worked as a university lecturer at the

University of Vienna 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 hist ...

until he returned to the Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the

in Berlin in 1937 as the head of the X-ray department. From 1940 to 1943 he was a civil servant. He became a full professor at the Czech Technical University in Prague and from 1943 to 1945 head of the institute for physical chemistry there. From 1946 to 1972, Kratky was professor at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The univers ...

Institute for Physical Chemistry. In 1956/57 he served as rector of the university.

Honors and awards

In 1936, Kratky won the Haitinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In 1985 he was elected to the German order

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...

. Kratky was awarded the Erwin Schrödinger Prize by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1964, the

Wilhelm Exner Medal The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, (ÖGV), for excellence in research and science since 1921. The medal is dedicated to Wilhelm Exner (1840–1931), former president of the Association, who initialize ...

in 1970,Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria. and the

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas conce ...

in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kratky, Otto 1902 births 1995 deaths Scientists from Vienna Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) 20th-century Austrian physicists TU Wien alumni Academics of the University of Vienna Max Planck Institute directors Academics of the University of Graz Max Planck Society people