Wilhelm Carl Gottlieb Müller (September 25, 1880 – June 16, 1968) 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 caus ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. He is best known as the successor of

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretica ...

as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich.

Life

Wilhelm Müller was born in Hamburg, the son of a merchant. He studied at Leipzig University and earned his Rigorosum in mathematics, physics, and philosophy with the grade "very good". He went on to earn his PhD with

Otto Hölder Ludwig Otto Hölder (December 22, 1859 – August 29, 1937) was a German mathematician born in Stuttgart. Early life and education Hölder was the youngest of three sons of professor Otto Hölder (1811–1890), and a grandson of professor Christ ...

and

Karl Rohn Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Rohn (January 25, 1855 in Bensheim, Schwanheim – August 4, 1920 in Leipzig) was a German mathematician, who studied geometry. Life and work Rohn studied in Darmstadt, Leipzig and Munich, initially engineering but then m ...

and a dissertation called ''"The rational curve of degree five in the five-, four-, three- and two-dimensional space"'' in 1911. At

Leibniz University Hannover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...

he got his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

and became 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 ...

in 1921, and later was appointed associate professor. In 1928 he became a professor at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University ( cs, Univerzita Karlova, UK; la, Universitas Carolina; german: Karls-Universität), also known as Charles University in Prague or historically as the University of Prague ( la, Universitas Pragensis, links=no), is the oldest an ...

. He joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

in 1933, and went on to join the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

'' in 1936. In 1934 he accepted a position as professor and director of the Aeronautical Institute at

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

. His appointment in 1939 as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich, a chair which had previously been held by

, but had been vacant for several years, was at the center of a controversy between modern physics and

German physics ''Deutsche Physik'' (, "German Physics") or Aryan Physics (german: Arische Physik) was a nationalist movement in the Germany, German physics community in the early 1930s which had the support of many eminent physicists in Germany. The term w ...

. Müller, an

aerodynamicist Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

, had not been thought of as a theoretical physicist before this time, and opposed the "new" theoretical physics promoted by scientists such as

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

. His appointment is seen by historians as political, and during his tenure he would teach only classical physics. He was dismissed in 1945 and barred from academia during allied

denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

proceedings.

Works

* 1911 - ''The rational curve of degree five in the five-, four, three- and two-dimensional space'' (''Die rationale Kurve fünfter Ordnung im fünf-, vier-, drei- und zweidimensionalen Raum''; dissertation, Universität Leipzig,

) * 1922 - ''The sense of chastity'' (''Vom Sinn der Keuschheit'') * 1925 - ''The Eternal Grail'' (''Vom ewigen Gral'') * 1925 - ''Dynamics'' (''Dynamik'') (1952) * 1928 - ''Mathematical Fluid Mechanics'' (''Mathematische Strömungslehre'') * 1932 - ''Introduction to the theory of viscous fluids'' (''Einführung in die Theorie der zähen Flüssigkeiten'') * 1933 - ''Jewry and Leadership'' (''Judentum und Führertum'') * 1936 - ''Introduction to Aerodynamics'' (''Einführung in die Mechanik des Fluges'') (1942, 1953, 1958) * 1936 - ''Jewry and Science'' (''Judentum und Wissenschaft'') * 1941 - ''Jewish and German Physics'' (''Jüdische und Deutsche Physik''), together with Johannes Stark * 1944 - ''The Battle in Physics'' (''Kampf in der Physik'') * 1959 - ''Theory of Elastic Deformation'' (''Theorie der elastischen Verformung'')

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Wilhelm Nazi Party members University of Hanover faculty Charles University faculty RWTH Aachen University faculty Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty 1880 births 1968 deaths 20th-century German physicists Leipzig University alumni