Wilhelm Heinrich Westphal (3 March 1882 in Hamburg – 5 June 1978 in Berlin) was a German physicist. From 1918, he was a professor at the University of Berlin. During the period 1922 to 1924, he was also an expert adviser to the Prussian Ministry of Science, Arts and Culture. From 1928, he was simultaneously a professor at the University of Berlin and the Technical University of Berlin. His position at the former ended when it fell in the Russian sector at the close of World War II, but he achieved emeritus status at the latter in 1955.
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Westphal was educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums. From 1902 to 1908, he studied at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Universität Stuttgart, and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (FWU), now the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He received his doctorate in 1908, at the University of Berlin, under Arthur Wehnelt with a thesis was on measurements of potential in Wehnelt cylinders.[1]
After receipt of his doctorate, Westphal became an assistant to Heinrich Rubens at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (FWU), where he researched thermal radiation and electric discharges in gases. During his time there, Westphal completed his Habilitation (1913) and became a Privatdozent.
His academic career was interrupted from 1914 to 1918 by military service in World War I. Westphal became a titular professor after returning to FWU in 1918, where he was appointmented ausserordentlicher Professor (extraordinarius professor). From 1922 to 1924, he was also an expert adviser to the Preußisches Kultusministerium (PrKM, Prussian Culture Ministry, officially the Preußisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Kunst und Volksbildung).
From 1925 to 1926, he was a physics teacher at the Landschulheim in Salem. From 1928, he was head of the physics demonstrator, alternately called the student laboratory.[1][2] In 1928, Westphal and Gustav Hertz together replaced Ferdinand Kurlbaum at the Technische Hochschule Berlin (THB), now the Technische Universität Berlin). Westphal, however, still retained his position at the FWU. From 1934, he was simultaneously an ausserordentlicher Professor at the THB and the FWU.
From 1935, at the THB, he was substitute head of the physics department, which Hertz had been forced to vacate due to his Jewish background. His position at the FWU came to an end in 1945 at the close of World War II because it was then in the Russian sector of the city.[2][3][4] In 1955, Westphal achieved emeritus status as ausserordentlicher Professor of physics at the Technische Universität Berlin.[1]
In addition to being a successful researcher, Westphal was a prolific textbook author. He was also the editor of Volumes 12 through 17 of the Handbuch der Physik, of the encyclopedia Physikalisches Wörterbuch, and of the series Die Wissenschaft.[1][2]