Walter Grotrian
Walter Robert Wilhelm Grotrian (* April 21, 1890 in Aachen, † March 3, 1954 in Potsdam ) was a German astronomer and astrophysicist.
Life
Grotrian was only private lecturer at the University of Potsdam, 1921, he qualified as a professor there. In 1922 he was appointed as Observer at Potsdamer Astrophysical Observatory ( Einstein Institute) and then became part of the University of Berlin. In the Third Reich 1941, he was Managing Director of the German Physical Society. During World War II he served as a major in the Wehrmacht. With John Plendl and Karl -Otto Kiepenheuer he collaborated in the creation of a European network of stations measuring variable radiations of the sun. The guided by him radio news company stood next to the staff of the ionospheric stations and the staff for these stations.
Work
Grotrian mainly dealt with the spectroscopy and its application to the explanation of astrophysical phenomena. His most important work is the 1928 published " Graphical representation of the spectra of atoms and molecules with 1, 2 and 3 valence ", with whom he founded the contemporary representation of term schemes as Grotrian diagrams. A second important discovery succeeded by using data that he had won in 1929 on an expedition to Sumatra under Erwin friendly, to ensure the correct physical explanation of the spectrum of the solar corona and thus an estimate of their temperature to over one million degrees Celsius. He also discovered clouds of dust as an explanation of the zodiacal light.
The lunar crater Grotrian is named after him.