Gernot Zippe
Gernot Zippe | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 1917 |
| Died | 7 May 2008 (aged 90) |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship |  Austria |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Known for | Zippe-type centrifuge Soviet program of nuclear weapons |
| Awards | .jpg){kind=small} Wilhelm Exner Medal (1990) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mechanical engineering |
| Institutions | Luftwaffe Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Tomsk-7 University of Virginia Urenco Group |
| Theses |
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Gernot Zippe (November 1917 – 7 May 2008) was an Austrian mechanical engineer and a nuclear physicist of German origin who is widely credited with leading the team which developed the Zippe-type centrifuge– a centrifuge machine for the enrichment and collection of uranium-235, during his time in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons.: 47 [1]
Biography
[edit]Zippe was born in Warnsdorf which was then part of the Austria-Hungary in November 1917.: 54–55 [2] The Zippe family later moved to Vienna which allowed him to attend the University of Vienna and earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering in 1939.: 54–55 [2] Zippe had earlier interests in aeronautical engineering and was a civilian flight instructor in the German Luftwaffe; while he also filled a role as a researcher on radar and propellers.: 54–55 [2]
In Russia
[edit]During the World War II, Zippe was captured by the Red Army and held in Soviet custody in Prague until 1946 when the Soviet intelligence, the NKVD, learned of his technical background and moved him to Russia to work on the isotope separation for the feasibility of the weapon-grade uranium.: 55 [2][3] Zippe who had never worked on a centrifuge before took over the project but he worked Max Steenbeck on the feasibility of the machine with the provided Russian intelligence on the works of American Jesse Beams from the Manhattan Project.: 59 [2] The project was carried out at the Institute A in Sukhumi and was being overseen by German physicist, Manfred von Ardenne, and directed by another German scientist Max Steenbeck, whose theoretical achievements Zippe used to successful deployment in 1950.: 59 [2]
In 1952, Zippe was transferred to Saint Petersburg to continue his work on the efficiency with the Russian scientists, which he stayed until 1954.: 60–61 [2] It was an standard practice by the captured German scientists to quarantine if they had work on the Soviet program of nuclear weapons, which Zippe did while being interned in transition camp in Kyiv.: 64
In Germany
[edit]In 1956, Zippe was notified by the Soviet administration in Ukraine of his release, and he decided to settle in Germany as opposed to Austria.: 64 In 1957, Zippe attended the conference on centrifuge research in Amsterdam, he realized the rest of the world was far behind what his team had been able to achieve.: 64 During this time, Zippe was able to found an employment with AMOLF as a consultant on centrifuge technology.: 65 In 1965, Zippe left AMOLF to join the Duggas AG (now Trade name: Evonik Industries) as a consultant until 1969 when he decided to join the consultant staff of the Urenco Group.: 65
In the United States
[edit]In 1960, Zippe traveled to the United States on the sponsorship of the University of Virginia, facilitated by Jesse Beams, where he did an unclassified postdoctoral research on the centrifuge technology.: 4369 [4][5] In spite of his notes confiscated by the Soviet government, Zippe was able to re-create the centrifuge machine and published a research thesis on the development and efficiency of the gas centrifuge at the University of Virginia in the United States.[6]: 1767 [7]
Impressed by his work, the United States government tried to recruit him for an on-going centrifuge program but he was restricted from gaining the classified information on the United States' nuclear weapons program; he refused and returned to work with German firms.[6] Following his return to Germany, the United States Atomic Energy Commission awarded contract works to its private firms to start work on the gas centrifuge, and marked his technical reports as classified documents on 1 August 1960.[6]
Personal interests
[edit]Working in Urenco Group, he was able to improve the efficiency of the centrifuge. He enjoyed flying and flew planes until he was 80 years old.[6] Zippe passed away in Bad Tölz, Bavaria, Germany, on 7 May 2008, aged 90.[8]
Legacy
[edit]His invention made it cheaper to produce fuel for nuclear reactors but also to build nuclear weapons, which increased the risk of nuclear proliferation. When asked if he has any regrets, he responded, "With a kitchen knife you can peel a potato or kill your neighbor, it's up to governments to use the centrifuge for the benefit of mankind."[6]
Awards
[edit]- Wilhelm Exner Medal (1990).[9]
Other
[edit]In Hebrew, the name "Gernot Zippe" (גרנוט ציפה) is an anagram of the word "Centrifuge" (צנטריפוגה).
References
[edit]- ^ The Barnes Review. TBR Company. 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bernstein, Jeremy (14 October 2014). Nuclear Iran. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-74456-1. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ "The problem of Uranium Isotope Separation by Means of Ultracentrifuge in the USSR" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 1957-10-08. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ Books in Series: Original, Reprinted, In-print, and Out-of-print Books, Published Or Distributed in the U.S. in Popular, Scholarly, and Professional Series. R.R. Bowker. 1980. ISBN 978-0-8352-1314-1. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ Kok, Kenneth D. (3 October 2016). Nuclear Engineering Handbook. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-315-35630-3. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Slender and Elegant, It Fuels the Bomb". New York Times. 2004-03-23. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
- ^ Nuclear Science Abstracts. Oak Ridge Directed Operations, Technical Information Division. 1960.
- ^ "Unintended Consequences". A Chorus of Bells and Other Scientific Inquiries. WORLD SCIENTIFIC. 4 February 2014. pp. 159–166. doi:10.1142/9789814596589_0010. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.
External links
[edit]- The Zippe Type – The Poor Man's Bomb, BBC Radio 4, 19 May 2004
- Tracking the technology, Nuclear Engineering International, 31 August 2004
- Slender and Elegant, It Fuels the Bomb, New York Times, March 23, 2004
- Gernot Zippe
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
- 2008 deaths
- 1917 births
- Austrian mechanical engineers
- Austrian nuclear physicists
- Austrian people of World War II
- World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union
- German Bohemian people
- Austrian people of German Bohemian descent
- Austrian expatriates in Switzerland
- People from Varnsdorf
- Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union people
- 20th-century Austrian engineers
- 21st-century Austrian engineers