physics

Wolfgang Krätschmer

Wolfgang Krätschmer is a physics 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer rather than just read about it. In short: Wolfgang Krätschmer (born 16 November 1942 in Berlin) is a German physicist. Krätschmer studied physics in Berlin.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Wolfgang Krätschmer (born 16 November 1942 in Berlin) is a German physicist. Krätschmer studied physics in Berlin. After his Diplom he went to the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and earned his PhD there in 1971 with a thesis on artificially etched tracks of accelerated heavy ions in quartz. In his career, he has worked on cosmic-ray heavy-ion tracks in lunar samples, as well as infrared and UV spectra of interstellar dust. Together with his PhD student Konstantinos Fostiropoulos and with Donald Huffman from the University of Arizona, he developed a procedure for the synthesis of fullerenes. This procedure was the first to produce fullerenes in large amounts for chemical experiments. Since 1993, he is an honorary professor ("Honorarprofessor") at the University of Heidelberg.

Honors 1992 – Stern–Gerlach Medal 1993 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 1994 – Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize 2002 – Carl Friedrich Gauss Medaille 2008 – Liebig Medal 2008 – Honorary doctorate from the University of Basel 2010 – European Inventor Award in the "Lifetime Achievement" category awarded by the European Patent Office

References

External links Homepage at MPI for Nuclear Physics

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wolfgang Krätschmer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wolfgang Krätschmer 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer

In research: Wolfgang Krätschmer 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer 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: Wolfgang Krätschmer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1942 births, 20th-century German physicists, 21st-century German physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wolfgang Krätschmer 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Wolfgang Krätschmer in simple terms?

Wolfgang Krätschmer (born 16 November 1942 in Berlin) is a German physicist. Krätschmer studied physics in Berlin.

Why does Wolfgang Krätschmer 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 Wolfgang Krätschmer?

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 Wolfgang Krätschmer.