Concept
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Overview
Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker (German: [kaʁl ˈfʁiːdʁɪç fɔn ˈvaɪtsɛkɐ] ; 28 June 1912 – 28 April 2007) was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the team which performed nuclear research in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership. There is ongoing debate as to whether or not he and the other members of the team actively and willingly pursued the development of a nuclear bomb for Germany during this time.
A member of the prominent Weizsäcker family, he was son of the diplomat Ernst von Weizsäcker, elder brother of the former German President Richard von Weizsäcker, father of the physicist and environmental researcher Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and father-in-law of the former General Secretary of the World Council of Churches Konrad Raiser.
Weizsäcker made important theoretical discoveries regarding energy production in stars from nuclear fusion processes. He also did influential theoretical work on planetary formation in the early Solar System.
In his late career, he focused more on philosophical, ethical and historical issues, and was awarded several international honours for his work in those areas.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
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The three principal sources of our knowledge concerning atoms have been the light they emit, X-rays and radio-activity. As everyone knows, when the light emitted by a glowing gas is passed through a prism, it is found to consist of well-defined lines of different colours, which are characteristic for each element, and constitute what is called its “spectrum”. The spectrum extends beyond the range of visible light…
Bertrand Russell, Philosophy
States what Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker is.
The most insignificant Doctor of Philosophy, nay, even the student, has no further use for a complete "system." In the modern state, it is predicated that every citizen is able to pass judgment on all the questions upon which he is called upon to vote; in political economy it is assumed that every consumer is thoroughly acquainted with all commodities, which he has occasion to buy to maintain himself withal, and the…
Friedrich Engels, Landmarks of Scientific Socialism
States what Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker is.
§ 82. _Of the teleological system in the external relations of organised beings_ By external purposiveness I mean that by which one thing of nature serves another as means to a purpose. Now things which have no internal purposiveness and which presuppose none for their possibility, _e.g._ earth, air, water, etc., may at the same time be very purposive externally, _i.e._ in relation to other beings. But these latter…
Immanuel Kant, Kant's Critique of Judgement
States what Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker is.
Philosophers who discussed Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Related ideas
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Philosophy
- Jürgen Habermas
- University of Hamburg
- University of Göttingen
- Mathematics
- Moscow
- Munich
- Atomic nucleus
- Atmosphere
- Niels Bohr
- University of Aberdeen
- Planet
- Physics
- Physicist
- Göttingen
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- University of Tübingen
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- Solar System
- Nazism
- World War II
- Werner Heisenberg
- Leipzig University
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of science.
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