Review of Hans-Jürgen Treder: Ein Porträt edited by Klaus Mauersberger & Monika Schulz-Fieguth

Phillip Helbig

Isis, 112, 2, 431432 (June 2021)


This is a book review of Hans-Jürgen Treder: Ein Porträt by Klaus Mauersberger & Monika Schulz-Fieguth The title is quite literal: there are many photographs (all black-and-white), most of them portraits of Hans-Jürgen Treder, either in the traditional sense or more informal shots. (The book grew out of a photography project thirty years ago, the publication having been thwarted by German reunification.) Although relatively unknown outside of the former East Germany, Treder was one of the leading relativists and astrophysicists in the GDR. He also held many administrative posts and was interested in the history and philosophy of science. Treder was born in 1928, growing up in Berlin under the Nazis. At the age of fifteen, he corresponding with Heisenberg, who not only corrected some of Treder's misconceptions about relativity, but also invited him to his institute in Dahlem and encouraged him to study physics or mathematics. His successful career was due to both his science and the fact that he was supported by the state. His career was topped by the organization of a conference in 1965 celebrating fifty years of general relativity, which attracted many top scientists, not just from the communist-bloc countries. Partly as a result of this successful conference, he was appointed director of the observatory at Babelsberg in Potsdam and, somewhat later, director of the Central Institute for Astrophysics. He had even more success with the Einstein centenary celebrations in 1979. The book is a good introduction to his life and work.


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