Heinrich Konen

Heinrich Matthias Konen (16 September 1874 in Köln – 31 December 1948 in Bad Godesberg) was a German physicist who specialized in spectroscopy. He was a founder and organizer of the Emergency Association of German Science, and he was a member of the "Senate" of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, the Reich Physical and Technical Institute, and the Reich Chemical and Technical Institute. When he was forced out of academia in 1933 due to his opposition to National Socialism, he became an advisor in the industrial sector, especially the Troisdorf Works. After World War II, Konen became rector of Bonn University and then headed the Culture Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia.

From 1893 to 1898, Konen studied at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Bonn University). He was awarded his doctorate there in 1897.

From 1899, Konen was a teaching assistant at Bonn University. From 1902, he was a Privatdozent there, as well as a part-time teacher at the Bonn Gymnasium (secondary school).

Konen was an ausserordentlicher Professor (extraordinarius professor) of theoretical physics at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster from 1905 to 1912, and from 1919 to 1920 he was an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) there. In 1920, due to his relationship with Friedrich Schmidt-Ott, Konen was involved in the founding and organization of the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (NG, Emergency Association of German Science) and he became a longstanding member of its main committee. In 1920, he also succeeded Heinrich Kayser as ordentlicher Professor at the Bonn University. From 1927 to 1929, he additionally was president of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society). Konen’s opposition to National Socialism resulted in his forced retirement from academia in 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Also until 1933, he was on the supervisory board of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG, Kaiser Wilhelm Society), an influential member of the board of trustees of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR, Reich Physical and Technical Institute – today, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt), on the board of trustees of the Chemisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (CTR, Reich Chemical and Technical Institute), and on the board of the Deutsches Museum (German Museum) in Munich. When Konen left academia, he became an advisor in industry, especially for Troisdorfer Werke (Dynamit Nobel AG, a chemical and weapons company whose headquarters was based in Troisdorf).

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