Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer

Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer (born 13 January 1899 in Breslau; died 15 May 1957 in Göttingen) was a German chemist.

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Family

He was born as a son of Karl Bonhoeffer and Paula, together with seven brothers and sisters, most known are Klaus and Dietrich Bonhoeffer members of the German resistance. With his Mrs. Grete von Dohnanyi, sister of Hans von Dohnanyi, he had four children. A further brother in law was Max Delbrück.

Biography

Bonhoeffer studied from 1918 in Tübingen and Berlin finishing his phd 1922 in Berlin with Walther Nernst. From 1923 to 1930 he was an assistant with Fritz Haber at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut for physical and electrochemistry in Berlin Dahlem. After the Habilitation 1927 he became full professor at the University of Berlin. In the year 1930 Bonhoeffer was appointed professor for physical chemistry at the University of Frankfurt. 1934 he was appointed as a professor for physical chemistry to the University of Leipzig. 1947 he became a professor for physical chemistry at the University of Berlin,

At the same time he was also director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for physical and electrochemistry know the Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG.

In the year 1949 it was appointed as a director of the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry in Goettingen. The institute was restructured long after his death in 1971 and is know the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen also known as the Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute.

He discovered 1929 together with Paul Harteck the spin isomers of hydrogen, orthohydrogen and parahydrogen.

References

• W. Jost (1957). "Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer". Naturwissenschaften 44 (24): 625-626. doi:10.1007/BF01177955.