The
German language was an important language of science from the late 19th century through the end of World War II. After the war, because so many scientific researchers and teachers' careers had been ended either by
Nazi Germany, the
denazification process, the American
Operation Paperclip and Soviet
Operation Osoaviakhim, or simply losing the war, "Germany, German science, and German as the language of science had all lost their leading position in the scientific community."[4]
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was one of the originators of the so-called
Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. He was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician and natural philosopher. Johannes Kepler discovered the laws according to which planets are moving around the Sun, who were called
Kepler's laws after him. With his introduction to calculating with
logarithms, Kepler contributed to the spread of this type of calculation. In mathematics, a numerical method for calculating integrals was named former
Kepler's barrel rule.[8] He made optics to a subject of scientific investigation and confirmed the discoveries made with the telescope by his contemporary
Galileo Galilei. He worked on the theory of the telescope and invented the refracting astronomical or
Keplerian telescope, which involved a considerable improvement over the
Galilean telescope.[9]
Paul Forman in 1971 argued the remarkable scientific achievements in quantum physics were the cross-product of the hostile intellectual atmosphere whereby many scientists rejected Weimar Germany and Jewish scientists, revolts against causality, determinism and materialism, and the creation of the revolutionary new theory of quantum mechanics. The scientists adjusted to the intellectual environment by dropping Newtonian causality from quantum mechanics, thereby opening up an entirely new and highly successful approach to physics. The "Forman Thesis" has generated an intense debate among historians of science.[13][14]
The bio-chemist
Adolf Butenandt independently worked out the molecular structure of the primary male sex hormone of
testosterone and was the first to successfully synthesize it from cholesterol in 1935.
The physicist and optician
Ernst Abbe (1840–1905) founded in the 19th century together with the entrepreneurs
Carl Zeiss (1840–1905) and
Otto Schott (1851–1935) the basics of modern
Optical engineering and developed many
optical instruments like
microscopes and
telescopes. Since 1899 he was the sole owner of the
Carl Zeiss AG and played a decisive role of setting up the enterprise Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen (today
Schott AG). These enterprises are very successful worldwide up to our time (21st century).
Alfred Wegener (1880–1930), a similarly interdisciplinary scientist, was one of the first people to hypothesize the theory of
continental drift which was later developed into the overarching geological theory of
plate tectonics.
After the National Socialistic laws banning Jewish doctors in 1933, the fields of neurology and psychiatry faced a decline of 65% of its professors and teachers. The research shifted to a 'Nazi neurology', with subjects such as
eugenics or
euthanasia.[25]
Humanities
Besides natural sciences, German researchers have added much to the development of humanities.
While Kant was one of the first philosopher of
German idealism,
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) is considered the most influental and last representative of it. His philosophy seeks to interprete the whole of reality in its variety of manifestations, including historical development, in a coherent, systematic and definitive manner. It is divided into "logic", "
natural philosophy" and "
Phenomenology of Geist", which also includes a
philosophy of history. His thinking also became the starting point for numerous other movements in the
theory of science, sociology, history, theology, politics, jurisprudence and
art theory, and it also influenced other areas of culture and intellectual life.
Contemporary examples are the philosopher
Jürgen Habermas, the Egyptologist
Jan Assmann, the sociologist
Niklas Luhmann, the historian
Reinhart Koselleck and the legal historian
Michael Stolleis. In order to promote the international visibility of research in these fields a new prize, Geisteswissenschaften International, was established in 2008. It serves the translation of studies in humanities into English.[27]
Karl Ferdinand Braun, who has been called one of the fathers of television and of the radio telegraphy and the "great grandfather of every semiconductor ever manufactured".[53][54][55][56][57]
Fritz Haber invented the
Haber–Bosch process. It is estimated that it provides the food production for nearly half of the world's population.[58][59] Haber has been called one of the most important scientists and chemists in human history.[60][61][62]
Albert Einstein, who has been called the greatest physicist of all time and one of the fathers of modern physics.[63][64]
Wernher von Braun, who co-developed the
V-2 rocket, the first artificial object to travel into space. Described by others as the "father of space travel",[67] the "father of rocket science",[68] or the "father of the American lunar program".
^Paul Forman, "Weimar Culture, Causality, and Quantum Theory, 1918-1927: Adaptation by German Physicists and Mathematicians to a Hostile Intellectual Environment," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 3 (1971): 1-116
^Helge Kragh, Quantum generations: a history of physics in the twentieth century (2002) ch 10
^* Allaby, Michael (2002). Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate. New York: Facts On File, Inc.
ISBN0-8160-4071-0.
^Hawkins, Mike (1997). Social Darwinism in European and American Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 140.
^Kim, Alan.
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 16 June 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2007
^
abEuropean neurology
[1] German Neurology and the ‘Third Reich’
Michael Martin a
Heiner Fangerau a
Axel Karenberg b
a Institute of the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf , and
b Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne , Germany
^Jöckle, Clemens (2003). Encyclopedia of Saints. Konecky & Konecky. p. 204.
^"Georgius Agricola". University of California - Museum of Paleontology. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
^Rafferty, John P. (2012). Geological Sciences; Geology: Landforms, Minerals, and Rocks. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, p. 10.
ISBN9781615305445
^Robinson, Walter (February 1995).
"Introduction". Instant Art History. Random House Publishing Group. p.
240.
ISBN0-449-90698-1. The father of official art history was a German named Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–68).
^Smil, Vaclav (2004). Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
MIT Press. p. 156.
ISBN9780262693134.
^Bellis, Mary (15 May 2019) [First published 2006 at inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa050298.htm].
"Biography of Konrad Zuse, Inventor and Programmer of Early Computers". thoughtco.com. Dotdash Meredith.
Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021. Konrad Zuse earned the semiofficial title of 'inventor of the modern computer'[who?]
Competing Modernities: Science and Education, Kathryn Olesko and Christoph Strupp. (A comparative analysis of the history of science and education in Germany and the United States)
Audretsch, D. B., Lehmann, E. E., & Schenkenhofer, J. (2018). Internationalization strategies of hidden champions: lessons from Germany. Multinational Business Review.