ECHOPHYSICS, the first European Centre for the History of Physics in Poellau (Austria)

muSeum review eCHoPHySiCS ECHOPHYSICS The first European Centre for the History of Physics in Poellau (Austria) , Heinz Krenn 2 and Lily Wilmes 3 - DOI: 10.1051/epn/2011404 ■ 1 Emeritus Prof. Dr. Hartmut KAHLERT, former Rector of the Graz University of Technology - ■ 2 Prof. Dr. Heinz KRENN, Institute for Experimental Physics at the Graz Karl-Franzens-University - ■ 3 Dr. Lily WILMES, e Victor Francis Hess Society, Poellau - info@victoress.org ■ Hartmut Kahlert 1 In 2010, the Austrian scientific community celebrated the foundation of the Vienna Institute of Radium Research in 1910, then affiliated with the former Imperial and Royal Academy of Sciences of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In 2012, another centennial event will take place: the 100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic rays by the Austrian physicist Victor F. HESS, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936. E CHOPHYSICS combines the complete heritage exhibits of both these commemorative events. It was the author and physicist Peter Maria SCHUSTER*, who, besides his concern for the rescue and conservation of historically valuable experimental physics equipment, foresaw the two upcoming centennials of world-wide scientific interest, founded the Victor F. Hess Society in 2007, and established the first European Centre for the History of Physics in 2008. Both institutions are hosted in a former Augustinian Canonry of Sti Poellau in Styria, Austria. The ECHOPHYSICS initiative To facilitate the public access to the records about the early research on radioactivity, on the earth-bound nuclear and on the cosmic radiation, and to the first complete heritage of Victor Francis Hess, has needed first to rescue and gather the original instruments, specimens and paraphernalia he used with 28 EPN 42/4  The Poellau Centre other physicists. Furthermore, it was desirable to present the documentation in an appealing, spacious and secure location. e creation of the first permanent and bilingual Note * Dr. Peter Maria SCHUSTER is the initiator and director of ECHOPHYSICS and the president of the Victor Francis Hess Society; Dr. SCHUSTER is Chair of the EPS/History of Physics Group; exhibition “Radiation and Mankind” (Strahlung, der ausgesetzte Mensch) followed, the Grand Opening of which taking place in May 2010 at the first European Centre for the History of Physics (ECHOPHYSICS) and the related Victor F. Hess Research and Heritage Centre at Poellau Castle in Styria, Austria. is site between Vienna and Graz is within a one-hour drive from Article available at http://www.europhysicsnews.org or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/epn/2011404 eCHoPHySiCS muSeum review both cities. e material on display comes mostly from Austrian universities (Vienna, Innsbruck and TU Graz) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Some comes from private collectors, but also from interested companies like Carl ZEISS. Without the unremitting engagement of a quite large team of physicists, most of whom are emeritus professors, from Austria and abroad, who set up the documentation and sorted and took care of the instruments to be shown, the task to set up ECHOPHYSICS and the exhibition could not have come true.  viktor f. Hess desk The objective of ECHOPHYSICS In a novel approach, ECHOPHYSICS aims at intensifying the awareness of the scientific history of physics: the exhibition “Radiation and Mankind” is accompanied by meetings of physicists and historians of physics interested in the emergence of discovery. In 2010, ECHOPHYSICS and the Victor F. Hess Society hosted two international conferences in Poellau: “e Roots of Physics in Europe” (May 28 – 30) and the “Georg von Peuerbach Symposion” (October 8 – 9): “Models of the Real World–from the Late Middle Ages until the Age of Enlightenment”. ese are examples of activities planned to accomplish the organizers ambition to raise the awareness for the pioneering discoveries in Late Habsburg Austria particularly in the field of radiation physics. e instrumentation and related pieces of evidence had long been hidden and, as a long term goal, their importance as crucial contributions to the emergence of Modern Physics in Europe needs to be shown. more than 80 illustrated bilingual text panels, a rich collection of original Touring “Radiation and documents and Mankind”, the first exhibi- a mesmerizing tion at ECHOPHYSICS set of nearly 600 More than 80 illustrated bilingual valuable historitext panels, a rich collection of origi- cal instruments nal documents and a mesmerizing set of nearly 600 valuable historical instruments accompany the visitor along the path through a sequence of nine exposition halls or sections, each being put in a vivid colour from the visible spectrum thus escorting the spectator through the conceptual evolution of physics general notion of radiation. e exhibition “Radiation and Mankind” reopens in Poellau Castle on the 7th of May, 2011. The large entrance hall displays the over-life-sized portraits of the famous Austrian physicists, who are related to radiation physics: Christian Doppler, Joseph Loschmidt, Josef Stefan and Ludwig Boltzmann. Besides, the explaining panels and showcases inform about their biography and scientific career, including most valuable historical documents. A caloric motor designed and patented by Loschmidt in 1868 and the original instruments used by Stefan to prove his T4 law for the radiation of heat are on exhibit. From light and sound propagation (Doppler) to the bricks and building schemes of matter (Loschmidt), from radiation of heat (Stefan) through energy conversion (Boltzmann) and ionisation plus static electricity, the way to radioactivity is well documented. A photomontage of the entrance portal to the Vienna Institut für Radiumforschung invites the visitor to view the rich historical heritage – provided by the Vienna University – of this famous ‘Radium Institute’ as it was commonly named, which had been established with the financial aid of Carl Kupelwieser in 1910, before the Institut Curie in Paris. The ‘Radium Institute’ benefited from the rich uranium ores mined from deposits at Joachimsthal (today Jáchimov in the Czech Republic), which made it, besides Paris, Berlin and Manchester, an early and internationally renowned centre for the radium research. Some luminescent uranium-rich minerals can be seen at this section of the exhibition as well as the greatest part of the original instruments of the ‘Radium Institute’. The original office desks and chairs of both Stefan Meyer and Victor F. Hess, can be admired. is section also includes detailed information on the exploration and discovery of the ionising particles in the atmosphere – a phenomenon named cosmic radiation by its discoverer Victor F. Hess. e difficult access of the lay public to the section on mechanical waves and shock-waves is being smoothened by a hands-on facility in the upcoming 2011 season, where also a state-of-the-art information on research on, and app (...truncated)