Karl Lintner

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Karl Lintner (1917 – 11 February 2015) was an Austrian nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he did research on the inelastic dispersion of fast neutrons in uranium. After the war, he taught and did nuclear research at the University of Vienna. He was a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Education From 1936 to 1940, Lintner studied physics at the Universität Wien. He received his doctorate in 1940, under Georg Stetter.

Career From 1941, Lintner was a teaching assistant to Georg Stetter at the Universität Wien. During World War II, Lintner worked on a team headed by Georg Stetter, a principal working on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club). Stetter led a group of six physicists and physical chemists in measuring atomic constants and neutron cross sections, as well as investigating transuranic elements; in 1943, Stetter held the unified directorship of the Institut für Neutronenforschung (Institute for Neutron Research), the II. Physikalische Institut and the Institut für Neutronenforschung (Institute for Neutron Research). Lintner did research on the inelastic dispersion of fast neutrons in uranium. From 1945, Lintner was an assistant at the II. Physikalische Institut der Wiener Universität (Second Physics Institute of the University of Vienna), under Eduard Haschek, Karl Przibram, and Erich Schmid. From 1949, he was a Privatdozent at the university. Around 1959, he was a titular ausserordentlicher Professor (extraordinarius professor) there, and later an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor). He was a full member of the Section for Mathematics and the Natural Sciences of the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Classified reports Georg Stetter and Karl Lintner Schnelle Neutronen im Uran. Der Zuwachs durch den Spaltprozeß und der Abfall durch unelastische Streuung (7 November 1941). The following are cited as Geheimberichte (secret reports) on German nuclear research from the period 1939 to 1945 and which are being held in the Stadtarchiv Haigerloch:

Georg Stetter and Karl Lintner Schnelle Neutronen in Uran (I) G. Stetter and K. Lintner Schnelle Neutronen in Uran (II und III): Streuversuche K. Lintner Schnelle Neutronen in Uranoxyd IV W. Jentschke and K. Lintner Schnelle Neutronen in Uran V. This paper is also identified as G-277. There are nearly 400 reports in the G-series. Many of the reports in this series were published in Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte (Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics.

Literature by Lintner K. Lintner, H. Moser, and J. Cerny On Spherical Setups used for the Determination of Cross Sections for Fast-Neutron Phenomena [In German], Sitzber. Osterr. Akad. Wiss., Math.-naturw. Klasse, Abt. IIa Volume 158, 123-34 (1950) K. Lintner Interaction of Fast Neutrons with the Heaviest Stable Nuclei (bi, Pb, Tl, and Hg) [In German], Acta Phys. Aust. Volume 3, 352-83 (1950) E. Schmid and K. Lintner Further Research on The Effects of Radiation on Metals [In German], Z. Metallk. Volume 51, 615-20 (1960). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. K. Lintner and E. Schmid The Problem of Radiation Influence of Solid Bodies, Nukleonik Volume 1, 29-40 (1958). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. K. Lintner Effect of Irradiation on the Plasticity of Metal Crystals [In German] Acta Physica Austriaca Volume 16, 256-64 (1963). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. K. Lintner Nuclear Physics Methods in Metal Physics [In German],Acta Physica Austriaca, Volume 18, 116-45 (1964). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna. I. Schreiner and K. Lintner Study of Radiation Effets by Microhardness Measurements, Acta Physica Austriaca Volume 18, 292-6 (1964). Institutional affiliation: University of Vienna.

Bibliography Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996) ISBN 0-8176-5312-0 Walker, Mark German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939–1949 (Cambridge, 1993) ISBN 0-521-43804-7

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Karl Lintner

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Karl Lintner claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Karl Lintner 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 Karl Lintner 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 Karl Lintner

In research: Karl Lintner appears in physics 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 Karl Lintner 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: Karl Lintner is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1917 births, 2015 deaths, 20th-century Austrian physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Karl Lintner 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.

How to study Karl Lintner in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Karl Lintner 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 Karl Lintner out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Karl Lintner in simple terms?

Karl Lintner (1917 – 11 February 2015) was an Austrian nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he did research on the inelastic dispersion of fast neutrons in uranium.

Why does Karl Lintner matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Karl Lintner?

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 Karl Lintner.