Prof. Erhard Hantzsche worked throughout his career on a multitude of problems in the fields of gas discharge physics, plasma physics and nuclear fusion. He has held various positions at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, including at the Physical-Technical Institute, the Central Institute of Electron Physics, the Berlin Branch of the Max-Planck-Institute of Plasma Physics and the Physical Institute of the Humboldt-University in Berlin. He retired in 1994 and is still living in Berlin.
Prof. Hantzsche received his Diploma (equivalent to M.S.) in Physics in 1956 from the University of Leipzig, his Dr.rer.nat. degree in 1962 from the Technical College in Magdeburg (Thesis: Theory of the glow cathode fall of potential), the Dr.sc.nat. degree in 1978 (Thesis: On cathode mechanisms in gas discharges) from the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, and the Dr.habil.nat. degree in 1993 from the Technical University in Chemnitz. In 1981 he was appointed as Professor at the Academy of Sciences.
He was head of departments of theoretical plasma physics (1963 – 1965, 1981 – 1987), deputy head of the department (1978 – 1980, 1987 – 1989), senior scientist, chairman and speaker of the department (1990 – 1991). He is member of the German Physical Society and other scientific societies, and he was a member of international committees like the Permanent International Scientific Committee (PISC) of the Symposia on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum (ISDEIV) 1982 – 1996, the International Committee of Workshops on Electrode Processes (1974 – 1990), the "Problemkommission Plasmaphysik" (1969 – 1980), the Committee on Circuit Breaker Arcs (1993 –1996). Moreover, he was lecturer on plasma physics at the Humboldt-University Berlin and the Technical University Chemnitz. for many years (mainly 1968 – 1970, 1986 – 1994). He received several awards, most importantly the Gustav Hertz Award of the German Physical Society (1978), the Max-von-Laue Medal of the Academy of Sciences (1990), and the Dyke Award of the ISDEIV (2002).
Erhard Hantzsche investigated successfully the theoretical basis of cathode fall processes both in glow and arc discharges, considering the cathodic plasma and its active connection with the surface as a singular, largely autonomous and self-contained physical system, decisive for the existence of discharges, explainable with the application of adequate theoretical-physical models, leading to a better physical understanding of the processes in question, and resulting in many discoveries and new aspects now generally accepted as known properties of cathodic plasmas in gas discharges and vacuum discharges. His studies took place always in close cooperation with other members of the department, especially with experimentalists.
In addition to this primary interest and main direction of research for decades, he studied problems of laser-plasma interaction, collision processes in plasmas, power balance of nuclear fusion plasmas, ion acceleration by electron beams and other space charge regions, the thermalization of ion beams in plasmas, unipolar arcs, electric microfields in plasmas, the properties and the development of stellar plasmas, the physics of spark breakdown in gases with the development of shock waves, the properties of thermo-field electron emission and generally the consequences of the interaction of plasmas with surfaces (especially in cathode spots), moreover the role of fundamental physical constants in nature, the transition from reversible to irreversible processes (entropy law, arrows of time), among others.
Some special results of his research were, for instance, the proofs that (in most cases) purely stationary arc spots are impossible (derived from the consequences of arc spot models), the discovery of thermal runaway as basic (initial) process of explosive plasma generation in arc spots, the physical explanation of the particular and exceptional properties of expanding arc cathode plasmas.
Erhard Hantzsche has also great interests in other fields of research like planetary physics, especially the Earth-Moon system, in celestial mechanics and space science, the course of development of the Sun and of stars, the theory of rocket propulsion, in special mathematical and numerical problems, in the hydrology of rivers, and in naval history.
He reported about the results of his investigations in many (sometimes invited) lectures, and published a great number of papers in scientific journals and in books.
last edit on July 27, 2007.
