{{Short description|German theoretical physicist (1893–1983)}} '''B. Adolf Kratzer'''<ref>The book (Hettema, 2001, p. 199) published the article ''On the Interpretation of Some Appearances in the Molecular Spectra'', by Friedrich Hund in Göttingen. The paper cites the article: B. A. Kratzer “Die Gesetzmässigkeiten in den Bandspektren” ''Enc. d. Math. Wiss.'' Volume 3, p. 821 (1925). Based on the subject matter, Adolf Kratzer's first initial is “B”.</ref> (16 October 1893 – 6 July 1983) was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions to atomic physics and molecular physics, and was an authority on molecular band spectroscopy. He was born in Günzburg and died in Münster.

From 1912 to 1914, Kratzer studied physics at the Technische Hochschule München, and then he spent two years in the army, after which he began studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München under Arnold Sommerfeld. He was granted his doctor of philosophy in 1920; his thesis was on the band spectra of molecules. While at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, he was Sommerfeld’s assistant; he had been trained by Sommerfeld’s assistant and student Wilhelm Lenz to fill this role. There, Kratzer extended the theory of diatomic molecular spectroscopy by including anharmonic forces between the nuclei, which changed the oscillation frequencies. It was Sommerfeld’s practice to send some of his assistants to be personal assistants for physics to the mathematician David Hilbert, at the University of Göttingen.<ref>Both Paul Peter Ewald and Alfred Landé had been previously sent to Göttingen as personal assistants for physics to David Hilbert.</ref> Kratzer was sent to the University of Göttingen from 1920 to 1921. Upon his return to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, he became a Privatdozent, and it was during this time that he became acquainted with Werner Heisenberg, also a student of Sommerfeld.<ref>[http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/ahqp/ APS Author Catalog: Kratzer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205234854/http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/ahqp/ |date=2007-02-05 }} – American Philosophical Society</ref><ref name="Mehra, Volume 1 2001, p. 334">Mehra, Volume 1, Part 1, 2001, p. 334.</ref><ref>Mehra, Volume 2, 2001, p. 19.</ref>

Based on his work at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, it was in 1922 that Kratzer's detailed analysis on the cyanide spectroscopic bands was published. His analysis resulted in the introduction of half-integral quantum numbers to account for molecular rotation.<ref>Mehra, Volume 1, Part 1, p. 334.</ref> During 1922, he was also called as an ordinarius professor of theoretical physics to the University of Münster.<ref>[http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/ahqp/bios.htm Sommerfeld Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927084229/http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/ahqp/bios.htm |date=2006-09-27 }} – American Philosophical Society</ref> Here, Kratzer made contributions to quantum mechanics and became a leading authority in the field of molecular band spectroscopy.<ref name="Mehra, Volume 1 2001, p. 334"/>

At this time, there were three centers of development for quantum mechanics and the interpretation of atomic and molecular structure, based on atomic and molecular spectroscopy, especially the Sommerfeld-Bohr model: the Theoretical Physics Institute at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, under Arnold Sommerfeld, the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Göttingen, under Max Born, and the Institute of Theoretical Physics, under Niels Bohr. These three institutes effectively formed a consortium for the exchange of assistants and researchers. Furthermore, with Sommerfeld educating such capable physicists as Kratzer, and others, when they were called to other facilities, they effectively became extensions of Sommerfeld’s Institute of Theoretical Physics. This was the case with Kratzer when he went to the University of Münster, as was the case of Sommerfeld’s former student Paul Peter Ewald when he went to the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart.<ref>Mehra, Volume 5, Part 1, 2001, p. 249.</ref>

Kratzer published a number of physics books, based on his lectures on electrodynamics, mechanics, optics, relativity, thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics (wave mechanics). A book on transcendental functions was written with Walter Franz, also a student of Sommerfeld.

The Kratzer potential, a central force in molecular physics, is named in his honor.<ref>Chaddha, 2005, p. 141.</ref> A potential with the same name has also been used in nuclear physics, as it provides an exact solution of the Bohr hamiltonian.<ref>Fortunato et al., J.Phys.G Nucl. Part. Phys. 29 (2003) 1341–1349; ''ibid.'' J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 30 (2004) 627–635</ref>

==Books== *Kratzer, Adolf ''Thermodynamik'' (Aschendorf, 1947) *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Thermodynamik'' (Aschendorf, 1950) – Based on lectures given during the summer semester in 1947.<ref name="Abe Books">[http://www.abebooks.com Abe Books]</ref> *Kratzer, Adolf ''Einführung in die Wellenmechanik'' (Aschendorf, 1954) *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Elektrodynamik'' (Aschendorf, 1955) *Kratzer, Adolf ''Relativitätstheorie'' (Aschendorff, 1956) *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Optik'' (Aschendorf, 1959) – Based on lectures given during the summer semester in 1931, at the University of Münster.<ref name="Abe Books"/> *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Thermodynamik'' (Aschendorf, 1960) – Based on lectures given during the summer semester in 1947. *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Mechanik'' (Aschendorf, 1960) *Kratzer, Adolf and Walter Franz ''Transzendente Funktionen'' (Akadem. Verl.-Ges. Geest & Portig, 1960) *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Elektrodynamik'' (Aschendorf, 1961) *Kratzer, Adolf ''Vorlesungen über Mechanik'' (Aschendorf, 1962) *Kratzer, Adolf and Walter Franz ''Transzendente Funktionen'' (Akadem. Verl.-Ges. Geest & Portig, 1963)

==References== *Chaddha, G. S. ''Quantum Mechanics'' (New Age International, 2005 reprint) {{ISBN|81-224-1465-6}} *Hettema, Hinne translator and editor, ''Quantum Chemistry: Classic Scientific Papers'' (World Scientific, 2001 reprint) {{ISBN|981-02-2771-X}} * Mehra, Jagdish, and Helmut Rechenberg ''The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 1 Part 1 The Quantum Theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Sommerfeld 1900 – 1925: Its Foundation and the Rise of Its Difficulties''. (Springer, 2001) {{ISBN|0-387-95174-1}} * Mehra, Jagdish, and Helmut Rechenberg ''The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 2 The Discovery of Quantum Mechanics 1925''. (Springer, 2001) {{ISBN|0-387-95176-8}} *Mehra, Jagdish, and Helmut Rechenberg ''The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 5 Erwin Schrödinger and the Rise of Wave Mechanics. Part 1 Schrödinger in Vienna and Zurich 1887-1925''. (Springer, 2001) {{ISBN|0-387-95179-2}} *Reid, Constance ''Hilbert'' (Springer, 1996) {{ISBN|0-387-94674-8}}

==Notes== <references/>

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kratzer, Adolf}} Category:German quantum physicists Category:1893 births Category:1983 deaths Category:20th-century German physicists Category:Technical University of Munich alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Münster