Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Annual Report 2005

More documents

Recommendations

Info

134 V. People and Events V.13 Four Decades on the Königstuhl – an Interview with Christoph Leinert and Dietrich Lemke On December 1 st , a Festkolloquium entitled »Frontiers of Infrared Astronomy« took place in the lecture hall of the MPIA. The occasion was the impending retirement of Christoph Leinert and Dietrich Lemke, who both have been key scientists at the MPIA since its beginnings and who considerably contributed to the international reputation of the Institute. The retirement of Leinert and Lemke marks the departure of the last two astronomers who have been at the Institute since its establishment and have played an influential role in its development. In this interview, they talk about the pioneering spirit that initially prevailed on the Königstuhl, the rise of the Institute to an internationally-oriented scientific research facility, and their ideas about the future orientation of the MPIA. You came to the Königstuhl in the early 1960s, and at first worked at the Landessternwarte. The MPIA did not yet exist at that time. What was the situation for astronomy students like yourselves at that time? Leinert: When I came to Heidelberg in 1962 to study physics, I already was interested in moving on to astronomy. I became better acquainted with the Landessternwarte during a practical training, where the newly acquired Schmidt mirror had to be adjusted using a Hartmann stop. Then the Director, Hans Elsässer, offered me a diploma thesis: a newly developed polarimeter was to be tested thoroughly and then be used at the Bruce Telescope of the Landessternwarte in order to measure interstellar polarization. This was an interesting task at a modern instrument of the time, so that’s how I started my career in observational astronomy. From a present-day perspective, the observing conditions were somewhat adventurous: the dome had to be opened and moved manually – I still hear the rumbling in my head – and the solid carbon dioxide, the coolant for the lightsensitive photomultiplier, first had to be put through a meat grinder. But the students were in good spirits and we were quite confident that we would be able to contribute interesting facts to astronomical research. Lemke: My case was somewhat different. I had obtained a degree in nuclear physics and not really been interested in going into astronomy. But then I heard a lecture on astrophysics by Elsässer that was quite different than anything I had ever heard before. Other lecturers more or less centered on classical astronomy. Elsässer, however, included a lot of physics in his talk. This fascinated me, so in 1965 I applied as a PhD student with him. Accordingly, the subject of my PhD thesis was all physics. It was about using synchrotron radiation from desy as a source for calibration of UV rocket experiments. Leinert: We PhD students – there were about half a dozen of us – actually considered ourselves laboratory Fig. V.13.1: Thomas Henning (left) expresses his thanks to Dietrich Lemke at the end of the colloquium.
Fig. V.13.2: Hans-Walter Rix (left) expresses his thanks to Christoph Leinert at the end of the colloquium. physicists. We tried to precisely calibrate faint light sources or build baffle systems for reducing perturbing scattered light by many orders of magnitude. These were important pre-requisites for future observations. But only one of us, Thorsten Neckel, really carried out astronomical observations on a larger scale. Lemke: I only stayed at the Institute because of its physical character. All experiments served as a start into astronomy with rockets, and later with balloons and satellites. Elsässer had jumped on this bandwagon quite early. He also offered me a part in building the tHisbe balloon telescope. I thought this was an extremely interesting task, although my knowledge of it was almost nil. We immediately began to visit institutes abroad which had carried out first balloon flights. And two years later, our own instrument was flying … Why was Elsässer so farsighted in promoting extraterrestrial astronomy so early on? Lemke: As far as extraterrestrial research is concerned, particularly in the infrared, Elsässer was very farsighted. This was of great significance, as Steve Beckwith later emphasized in particular. But another important factor was that funds were available then in Germany for space research. Part of the building of the Institute was financed with such funds. Did tHisbe work right from the beginning? Lemke: No, but we were completely entering new technical territory. Never before had we built a telescope floating in the stratosphere and working at 70 degrees V.13 Four Decades on the Königstuhl – an Interview with Christoph Leinert and Dietrich Lemke 135 Celsius below zero and a hundredth of the normal atmospheric pressure. During the first flight, started from a site in Emsland, not much really worked. Many moving parts virtually failed, only the electronics worked. We then had to go through a long learning process, testing many components in vacuum cryo-chambers. Today, this is called quality assurance. And, of course, it was great fun to go to Texas with the small team of students and technicians to start balloons. At that time it was possible to do everything on our own. With present-day satellite experiments, researchers are generally highly specialized and only a cog in the machine. The fascination today is a different one: You work in international teams on worldwide unique projects with exciting scientific goals. By the way, tHisbe was still operated using punched tapes and the data were saved on punchcards. We were always running around carrying big cardboard boxes with the IBM punchcards stacked in them. Calculations were partly made using mechanical calculators operated with a crank. The receivers were built with electronic tubes, holes were drilled into the chassis and so on. Today this would be unthinkable. Then came the advent of semiconductor electronics. On tHisbe, we flew the first integrated circuits, a real novelty then. Over the decades we became contemporary witnesses of a technological revolution. New materials, electronic computers, fast-control engineering, and, above all, cryogenic engineering were developed. And I was very impressed by the parallel opening of more and more spectral regions with the help of space telescopes. We were lucky that this »golden age of astronomy«mostly overlapped with our professional life. Were you interested in the task of building Thisbe only for physical and technical reasons, or for astronomical reasons as well?
Page 1 and 2:
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Page 3 and 4:
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Page 5:
Contents Preface ..................
Page 8 and 9:
6 I. General I.1 Scientific Goals U
Page 10 and 11:
8 I. General massive protostars and
Page 12 and 13:
10 I. General achieve higher angula
Page 14 and 15:
12 I. General The institute is co-l
Page 16 and 17:
14 I. General Point Source sensitiv
Page 18 and 19:
16 I. General Edinburgh Groningen D
Page 20 and 21:
18 II. Highlights II.1 Light Echoes
Page 22 and 23:
20 II. Highlights 10 arcsec Fig. II
Page 24 and 25:
22 II. Highlights AB Dor C AB Dor A
Page 26 and 27:
24 II. Highlights II.3 The First He
Page 28 and 29:
26 II. Highlights II.4 Planetesimal
Page 30 and 31:
28 II. Highlights azimuthal directi
Page 32 and 33:
30 II. Highlights ticles fall faste
Page 34 and 35:
32 II. Highlights ANTU Seyfert 2 ga
Page 36 and 37:
34 II. Highlights cretion disk, one
Page 38 and 39:
36 II. Highlights 8.5 �m 2.3 ly 0
Page 40 and 41:
38 II. Highlights II.6 Massive Star
Page 42 and 43:
40 II. Highlights log M� /pc2 �
Page 44 and 45:
42 II. Highlights II.7 Observations
Page 46 and 47:
44 II. Highlights log IR luminosity
Page 48 and 49:
46 II.8 Dynamics, Dust, and Young S
Page 50 and 51:
48 II. Highlights and we see a temp
Page 52 and 53:
50 III. Selected Research Areas III
Page 54 and 55:
52 III. Scientific Work Fig. III.1.
Page 56 and 57:
54 III. Scientific Work the Data Ar
Page 58 and 59:
56 III. Scientific Work The Field o
Page 60 and 61:
58 III. Scientific Work lower than
Page 62 and 63:
60 III. Scientific Work
Page 64 and 65:
62 III. Scientific Work Fig. III.1.
Page 66 and 67:
64 III. Scientific Work z [AU] 1 0
Page 68 and 69:
66 III. Scientific Work line observ
Page 70 and 71:
68 III. Scientific Work log F /mJy
Page 72 and 73:
70 III. Scientific Work Column dens
Page 74 and 75:
72 III.3 The Galaxy-Dark Matter Con
Page 76 and 77:
74 III. Scientific Work redshift su
Page 78 and 79:
76 III. Scientific Work Mocking the
Page 80 and 81:
78 III. Scientific Work tion rate o
Page 82 and 83:
80 III. Scientific Work observed is
Page 84 and 85:
82 III. Scientific Work DDO 53 HO I
Page 86 and 87: 84 III. Scientific Work Fig. III.4.
Page 88 and 89: 86 III. Scientific Work tribution o
Page 90 and 91: 88 IV. Instrumental Development All
Page 92 and 93: 90 IV. Instrumental Development Nir
Page 94 and 95: 92 IV. Instrumental Development The
Page 96 and 97: 94 IV. Instrumental Development L3
Page 98 and 99: 96 IV. Instrumental Development res
Page 100 and 101: 98 IV. Instrumental Development IV.
Page 102 and 103: 100 IV. Instrumental Development al
Page 104 and 105: 102 IV. Instrumental Development IV
Page 106 and 107: 104 IV. Instrumental Development Fi
Page 108 and 109: 106 IV. Instrumental Development IV
Page 110 and 111: 108 IV. Instrumental Development jo
Page 112 and 113: 110 V. People and Events 1� 10�
Page 114 and 115: 112 V. People and Events V.2 Open H
Page 116 and 117: 114 V. People and Events V.3 Furthe
Page 118 and 119: 116 V. People and Events presented.
Page 120 and 121: 118 V. People and Events The IMPRS
Page 122 and 123: 120 V. People and Events Fig. V.5.2
Page 126 and 127: 124 V. People and Events These oppo
Page 132 and 133: 130 V. People and Events V.10 The P
Page 134 and 135: 132 V. People and Events Abb. V.11.
Page 138 and 139: 136 V. People and Events Lemke: I w
Page 140 and 141: 138 V. People and Events Fig. V.13.
Page 142 and 143: 140 V. People and Events V.14 Where
Page 144 and 145: 142 V. People and Events against sp
Page 146 and 147: 144 Staff Directors: Henning (Actin
Page 148 and 149: 146 Working Groups Rainer Lenzen, H
Page 150 and 151: 148 Cooperation with industrial Fir
Page 152 and 153: 150 Conferences Conferences and Mee
Page 154 and 155: 152 Conferences D. Lemke: JWST-miri
Page 156 and 157: 154 Conferences/Service in Comitees
Page 158 and 159: 156 Publications Szalay, I. Szapudi
Page 160 and 161: 158 Publications Hamilton, C. M., W
Page 162 and 163: 160 Publications Brinkmann, D. G. Y
Page 164 and 165: 162 Publications Zheng, X. Z., F. H
Page 166 and 167: 164 Publications of the wheel mecha
Page 168 and 169: 166 Publications ASP Conf. Ser. 331
Page 170 and 171: 168
Page 172: The Max Planck Society The Max Plan
show all

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Annual Report 2005

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?