Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

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The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is based in Braunschweig and Berlin. It is the national institute for natural and engineering sciences and the highest technical authority for metrology and physical safety engineering in Germany.

Part of its brief is the accurate measurement of time. It is responsible for the German atomic clock DCF77.

They are also responsible for the certification of voting machines for the German federal and European elections.

Contents

[edit] History

The PTB was originally founded in 1887 as the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) – 'the Reich Physical and Technical Institute'. The goal of the organization was supervising and directing calibration and establishing metrological standards. Research areas included spectroscopy, photometry, electrical engineering, and cryogenics. Werner von Siemens was instrumental in its establishment. Until 1934, the PTR was under the Reichsinnenministerium – the Reich Interior Ministry - and then under Reichserziehungsministerium – the Reich Education Ministry.[1]

The Institute’s board of directors included Heinrich Konen and Walther Nernst circa 1930, Albert Einstein (1917 – 1933), Ludwig Prandtl, and Max Planck, as well as representative from Siemens AG, Krupp, and Zeiss. Its presidents were:

Max von Laue was the physics advisor 1925 – December 1933.[2]

The Institute had 292 employees 1932 and 443 in 1937. By 1942 there were over 500. After 1945, the Institute was renamed to the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt – the Federal Physical and Technical Institute.[3]

[edit] Bibliography

  • Klaus Hentschel, editor and Ann M. Hentschel, editorial assistant and Translator Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996)

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hentschel (1996) Appendix B, pp. iv – vii.
  2. ^ Hentschel (1996) Appendix B, pp. iv – vii.
  3. ^ Hentschel (1996) Appendix B, pp. iv – vii.

Coordinates: 52°17′43″N, 10°27′49″E

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