- Carl Hermann
Carl Hermann (
17 June 1898 –12 September 1961 ) was a German professor ofcrystallography . WithCharles-Victor Mauguin , he invented an international standard notation forcrystallographic group s known as theHermann-Mauguin notation or International notation.Born in the north German port town of Wesermünde to parents both of long-time ministerial families, he got his doctorate from Göttingen in 1923, as a pupil of
Max Born and a fellow student withWerner Heisenberg . With Paul P. Ewald atStuttgart , he nurtured the growing field ofcrystallography , especially the study ofspace group s, and began what was later to become "Structure Reports", a reference series giving every knowncrystal structure determination.When the
Nazi Party rose to power, he objected to its political restrictions on academic positions, leaving to take a position as a physicist with industrialdye firm I.G. Farbenwerke at Ludwigshafen, where he continued his crystallographic research and studiedsymmetry in higher-dimensional spaces. DuringWorld War II , he and his wife Eva helped manyJew s hide and escapethe Holocaust , for which he was imprisoned and sentenced to death. As he was an eminent scientist with influential friends, the sentence was never carried out.After the war, he lectured briefly at Darmstadt Polytechnic. Then, in 1947, he accepted a newly formed chair in crystallography at the University of Marburg, where he became director of the Crystallographic Institute and remained until his death.
An active Quaker, and having a gift for languages, he devoted much time to promoting international understanding.
In August 1994, the German Crystallographic Society (DGK) established the Carl Hermann Medal, its highest distinction, for outstanding contributions to the science of crystallography.
External links
* [http://journals.iucr.org/e/ IUCr "Structure Reports" Online]
* [http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~fischerw/Hermann.htm Biography at University of Marburg]
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