Robert Ochsenfeld (18 May 1901 – 5 December 1993) 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 ...

. In 1933 he discovered together with Walther Meissner the Meisner-Ochsenfeld effect. Born in Helberhausen,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Ochsenfeld studied physics at the Philipps University of Marburg. The subject of his PhD was the study of

ferromagnetism Ferromagnetism is a property of certain materials (such as iron) which results in a large observed magnetic permeability, and in many cases a large magnetic coercivity allowing the material to form a permanent magnet. Ferromagnetic materials ...

.Das Auftreten des Ferromagnetismus im System Mangan-Stickstoff. In: Annalen der Physik, Folge 5, Band 12, Heft 3: S. 253–384. In 1932-1933 he worked at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) in

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 ...

in the low temperature group headed by Meissner. Leaving the PTR, he taught at the

National Political Institutes of Education National Political Institutes of Education (german: Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten; officially abbreviated NPEA, commonly abbreviated Napola for ''Nationalpolitische Lehranstalt'' meaning National Political Teaching Institute) were ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

until 1940, followed by research for new weapons 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 opposing ...

. After the war, he worked until retirement in the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the successor of the PTR with focus on magnetic materials.

References

External links

1901 births 1993 deaths People from Hilchenbach 20th-century German physicists People from the Province of Westphalia {{Germany-physicist-stub