astronomy

Wilhelm Ohnesorge

Wilhelm Ohnesorge is a astronomy 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 Wilhelm Ohnesorge rather than just read about it. In short: Karl Wilhelm Ohnesorge (8 June 1872 – 1 February 1962) was a German politician in Nazi Germany who sat in the Hitler cabinet. From 1937 to 1945, he was the Reichsminister of the Reich Postal Ministry, having succeeded Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Karl Wilhelm Ohnesorge (8 June 1872 – 1 February 1962) was a German politician in Nazi Germany who sat in the Hitler cabinet. From 1937 to 1945, he was the Reichsminister of the Reich Postal Ministry, having succeeded Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach. Along with his ministerial duties, Ohnesorge also significantly delved into research relating to propagation and promotion of the Nazi Party through the radio, initiatives in German signals intelligence (SIGINT), including the interception of Anglo-American communications via the research department of the Reichspost, and the development of a proposed German atomic bomb.

Early life and education Born in Gräfenhainichen, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, Ohnesorge was the son of Johann Ferdinand Ohnesorge (1837–1924), a former sergeant major in the 6th Dragoon Regiment and later a senior telegraph assistant, and Ida Franziska Auguste (1845–1897) from Bismark. Ohnesorge was educated in Frankfurt and, after graduating from high school in 1890, entered the local telegraph office as a trainee. In 1897, after attending the Postal and Telegraph School in Berlin, he passed the higher administrative examination. He then studied mathematics and physics at the universities of Kiel and Berlin. From 1900, he was employed in Berlin at the Telegraph Experimental Office, the Telephone Exchange, and the Higher Postal Directorate (OPD).

World War I and early post-war life Ohnesorge served in the Imperial German Army throughout World War I, from 1914 to 1918. He initially served as a communications officer at the Supreme Army Command; from August 1915, he headed the Telegraph Directorate of the supreme headquarters with the rank of Oberstleutnant. In 1915, he developed the "Ohnesorge four-wire circuit," which enabled the first telephone connection between the western front at Charleville-Mézières and Constantinople. During his war service, he was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class. Following the war, from 1919 to 1924, he worked at the OPD in Dortmund. During the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, he maintained telephone connections with the unoccupied part of the German Reich in defiance of Allied prohibitions. As a result, he was appointed department head at the Berlin Postal Directorate. During this period, he became increasingly involved in right-wing politics and joined the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund, the largest, most active and most influential antisemitic organization in the Weimar Republic.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wilhelm Ohnesorge

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

In research: Wilhelm Ohnesorge appears in astronomy 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 Wilhelm Ohnesorge 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: Wilhelm Ohnesorge is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1872 births, 1962 deaths, 20th-century German civil servants, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wilhelm Ohnesorge 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 Wilhelm Ohnesorge in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Wilhelm Ohnesorge in simple terms?

Why does Wilhelm Ohnesorge matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Wilhelm Ohnesorge?

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 Wilhelm Ohnesorge.