Hans Adolph Buchdahl
| Hans Adolf Buchdahl | |
|---|---|
| Born |
7 July 1919 Mainz, Germany |
| Died | 7 January 2010 (aged 90) Adelaide, Australia |
| Residence | Australia |
| Citizenship | German (1919–1945) Australian (1945–2010) German (1983–2010) |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions |
University of Tasmania (1941–1963) Australian National University (1963–1984) |
| Alma mater |
Imperial College London (BS) University of Tasmania (PhD) |
| Doctoral students | Peter J. Sands, Greg Forbes |
| Known for |
f(R) gravity, Buchdahl's theorem Thermodynamics Optics |
| Notable awards | Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal (1972) |
Hans Adolf Buchdahl (7 July 1919 – 7 January 2010) was a German-born Australian physicist. He contributed to general relativity, thermodynamics and optics. He is particularly known for developing f(R) gravity and Buchdahl's theorem on the Schwarzschild's solution for the inside of a spherical star.
Hans Adolf Buchdahl was born in Mainz, Germany in a Jewish family (he used the spelling Adolph to dissociate himself from Hitler). His older brother Gerd Buchdahl was a well-known philosopher in science. In 1933, Gerd took Hans with him to England, to escape the Nazi government. At London, he completed a BSc and received the Associate of the Royal College of Science (ARCS) from Imperial College.
When World War II began, the UK government, unable to determine individual allegiance, interned German nationals including many Jewish refugees already fully assimilated. In July 1940, Hans came to Australia together with Gerd on board the HMT Dunera. He was detained initially at Hay in New South Wales, then at the Tatura centre in Victoria in May 1941. Once his mathematical abilities had been recognised there, he was released on a guarantor program and was transferred to the Physics Department of the University of Tasmania in Hobart. There he had to assist the overloaded teaching staff involved in wartime military research in optics. In 1949, he received his doctorate from University of Tasmania. In 1956, he was awarded a D.Sc. from Imperial College London. From 1963 he was professor and head of the Department of Theoretical Physics in the Faculty of Science at the Australian National University in Canberra until his retirement in 1984–1985.
He married Pamela Wann in 1950 and they have three children. He died in Adelaide, Australia on 7 January 2010.
When working at the Waterworth Hobart Annexe, Buchdahl found the formulas for optical aberration coefficients taken to high orders that the Waterworth group used in designing imaging systems. These formulas were later applied worldwide, including in systems carried by satellites. At the same time, he also continued research in general relativity and classical thermodynamics.
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