chemistry

Hartmut Bärnighausen

Hartmut Bärnighausen is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hartmut Bärnighausen rather than just read about it. In short: Hartmut Bärnighausen (16 February 1933 – 30 March 2025) was a German chemist and crystallographer. He was known for establishing the Bärnighausen trees which describe group-subgroup relationships of crystal structures.

Key takeaways

Hartmut Bärnighausen belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hartmut Bärnighausen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hartmut Bärnighausen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hartmut Bärnighausen (16 February 1933 – 30 March 2025) was a German chemist and crystallographer. He was known for establishing the Bärnighausen trees which describe group-subgroup relationships of crystal structures.

Life Bärnighausen studied Chemistry at Leipzig University and received his diploma after a diploma thesis with Leopold Wolf in 1955. In May 1958, he flew from East Germany to University of Freiburg, where he worked with Georg Brauer. He finished his doctorate in the group of Georg Brauer in 1959. In 1967, he received his habilitation. From 1967 to 1998, he was a professor for inorganic chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe. Bärnighausen died on 30 March 2025, at the age of 92.

Research His research focused on the following topics:

crystallographic group theory in crystal chemistry (Bärnighausen trees) synthesis and characterization of new compounds in including rare earth metals structure refinements of twinned crystals

Awards He was awarded the Carl Hermann Medal of the German Crystallographic Society in 1997.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hartmut Bärnighausen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hartmut Bärnighausen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hartmut Bärnighausen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hartmut Bärnighausen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hartmut Bärnighausen

In research: Hartmut Bärnighausen appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hartmut Bärnighausen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hartmut Bärnighausen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1933 births, 2025 deaths, 20th-century German chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hartmut Bärnighausen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hartmut Bärnighausen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hartmut Bärnighausen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hartmut Bärnighausen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hartmut Bärnighausen in simple terms?

Why does Hartmut Bärnighausen matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hartmut Bärnighausen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hartmut Bärnighausen.