Georg Pfotzer

For the merchant and landowner, see George Pozer.

Georg Pfotzer (29 November 1909 – 24 July 1981) was a German physicist.

He was a student of Erich Regener in the 1930s and worked with Regener to investigate cosmic rays by using balloons to carry scientific instruments such as Geiger counters to the upper atmosphere.[1] The terms Pfotzer curve and Pfotzer maximum, relating to the distribution of charged particles in the atmosphere resulting from cosmic rays, are named after him.[2][3][4] It has been suggested that this is misleading, as Regener was the principal investigator, but he was persecuted and forced to resign during the Nazi era as his wife was of Jewish ancestry.[1]

He was director of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research between 1965 and 1977.[5]

  1. ^ a b Erich Regener and the ionisation maximum of the atmosphere
  2. ^ Gaisser, T.K. (1990). Cosmic Rays and Particle Physics. Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780521339315. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  3. ^ Grieder, P.K.F. (2001). Cosmic Rays at Earth: Researcher's Reference Manual and Data Book. Elsevier Science Limited. p. 20. ISBN 9780444507105. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  4. ^ Brown, L.M.; Hoddeson, L. (1986). The Birth of Particle Physics. Cambridge University Press. p. 90. ISBN 9780521338370. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  5. ^ Pfotzer, G.; Ehmert, A.; Erbe, H.; Keppler, E.; Hultqvist, B.; Ortner, J. (1962). "A Contribution to the Morphology of X-ray Bursts in the Auroral Zone Creator". J. Geophys. Res. 67 (2): 575–585. Bibcode:1962JGR....67..575P. doi:10.1029/JZ067i002p00575.