Wolfgang Kroll
20th century German Physicist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wolfgang Kroll (March 21, 1906 – February 28, 1992) was a physicist, born in Greifswald, northern Germany, who received his doctorate in physics from the University of Breslau in 1930. He spent the next few years in Leipzig conducting postdoctoral research with Werner Heisenberg.
Wolfgang Kroll | |
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Born | March 21, 1906 Greifswald, German Empire (now Greifswald, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ) |
Died | February 28, 1992 (85 years old) National Taiwan University Hospital, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan |
Nationality | Germany |
Alma mater | University of Breslau |
Known for | Taiwan's first Ph.D. professor of physics after the war |
Scientific career | |
Fields | theoretical physics |
Institutions | Hokkaido Imperial University, Tokyo Institute of Physics
and Chemistry Taipei Imperial University, National Taiwan University |
Thesis | Quantum Mechanics of Dispersion and Magnetic Spin in Dirac's Electron Theory (Quantum Mechanics of Dispersion and Magnetic Spin in Dirac's Electron Theory (1930)) |
Due to the power of the Nazi Party, Kroll left Germany in 1937 to teach in Hokkaido, Japan, and then arrived in the Japanese state of Taipei in 1941, where he taught at the Preparatory Department of the Imperial University of Taipei. After the war, Kroll was invited to transfer to the Department of Physics at National Taiwan University. He was promoted to Associate Professor and then to Professor. He was the first full-time professor in Taiwan to hold a doctorate in theoretical physics after the war. Afterward, he was invited to teach in the Physics Department of Tunghai University.
In August 1976, Kroll retired from the Department of Physics at National Taiwan University and became an honorary professor along with Xu Yunji the following year. After his retirement, Kroll also taught part-time at the Chinese Cultural University and other places. In the late 1970s, as Taiwan's economy began to take off, prices rose and Kroll's pension became relatively meagre, leaving him in a difficult position. On February 28, 1992, Kroll died of emphysema at National Taiwan University Hospital at the age of 87.