Johannes Stark (German: [joˈhanəs ˈʃtaʁk]; 15 April 1874 – 21 June 1957) was a German physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 for discovering the Stark effect.

From 1924, Stark supported Adolf Hitler. He was a key leader, along with another Nobel Prize winner named Philipp Lenard, in the anti-Jewish Deutsche Physik movement. This group aimed to remove Jewish scientists from positions in German schools and organizations. In 1947, a court that removed Nazi influence labeled Stark a "Major Offender." However, in 1949, this judgment was changed to "Lesser Offender" after an appeal.

Education

Johannes Stark was born on April 15, 1874, in Schickenhof, Germany (now part of Freihung). He attended a secondary school in Bayreuth and later studied at a secondary school in Regensburg. In 1894, he began studying at the University of Munich, where he focused on physics, mathematics, chemistry, and crystallography. In 1897, he earned his Ph.D. in Physics. His doctoral thesis, guided by Eugen von Lommel, was titled Untersuchung über einige physikalische, vorzüglich optische Eigenschaften des Rußes (Investigation of some physical, especially optical properties of soot). Stark remained at the University of Munich as an assistant to von Lommel until 1900.

Career and research

In 1900, Stark became a Privatdozent (unsalaried lecturer) at the University of Göttingen. In 1906, he was appointed Extraordinary Professor at Königliche Technische Hochschule (Royal Technical College) in Hanover, and in 1909 became Professor at Technische Hochschule Aachen (Technical College of Aachen). From 1917 to 1922, he worked as a professor at the universities of Greifswald and Würzburg.

In 1919, Stark was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields" (the latter is known as the Stark effect).

From 1933 until his retirement in 1939, Stark was President of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (Physical-Technical Reich Institute), while also President of the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Association of German Science).

It was Stark who, as the editor of the Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik, asked in 1907, when Einstein was not yet famous, Albert Einstein to write a review article on the principle of relativity. Stark seemed impressed by relativity and Einstein's earlier work when he quoted "the principle of relativity formulated by H. A. Lorentz and A. Einstein" and "Planck's relationship M 0 = E 0 / c" in his 1907 paper in Physikalische Zeitschrift, where he used the equation e 0 = m 0 c to calculate an "elementary quantum of energy," i.e., the amount of energy related to the mass of an electron at rest. While working on his article, Einstein began a line of thought that would eventually lead to his general theory of relativity, which in turn became (after its confirmation) the start of Einstein's worldwide fame. This is ironic, given Stark's later work as an anti-Einstein and anti-relativity propagandist in the Deutsche Physik movement.

Stark published more than 300 papers, mainly regarding electricity and other such topics.

Affiliation with Nazism

From 1924, Stark supported Adolf Hitler. During the Nazi government, Stark tried to lead German physics through the Deutsche Physik (Aryan Physics) movement, along with Nobel Prize winner Philipp Lenard. They opposed the "Jewish physics" of Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg (who was not Jewish). After Heisenberg defended Einstein’s theory of relativity, Stark wrote an angry article in the official SS newspaper, Das Schwarze Korps, calling Heisenberg a "White Jew."

On August 21, 1934, Stark wrote to physicist and Nobel laureate Max von Laue, telling him to follow the party line or face consequences. The letter ended with "Heil Hitler."

In his 1934 book, Nationalsozialismus und Wissenschaft (National Socialism and Science), Stark claimed scientists should serve the nation. He argued that research important for German weapons and industry was most valuable. He called theoretical physics "Jewish" and said only people of pure German heritage should hold scientific jobs in Nazi Germany.

In Das Schwarze Korps, Stark wrote that even if racial antisemitism succeeded, it would not be a full victory unless Jewish ideas were also defeated. He stated, "We must also destroy the Jewish spirit, whose blood can flow as freely today as before if its carriers hold beautiful Aryan papers."

In 1947, after Germany’s defeat in World War II, Stark was labeled a "Major Offender" and sentenced to four years in prison (later suspended) by a denazification court. In 1949, the Appellate Tribunal in Munich changed the verdict to "Lesser Offender" and imposed a fine of 1,000 marks.

Personal life and death

Stark married Luise Uepler, and they had five children together. He enjoyed growing fruit trees and working in forestry. After World War II, he used money from his Nobel Prize to build a private laboratory on his rural property in Upper Bavaria. There, he conducted research on how light bends when it passes through an electric field.

In his later years, Stark lived at Gut Eppenstatt near Traunstein in Upper Bavaria. He passed away on June 21, 1957, at the age of 83. He is buried in the mountain cemetery in Schönau am Königssee.

Awards and honors

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Stark was given several other awards. These included the Baumgartner Prize from the Vienna Academy of Sciences in 1910, the Vahlbruch Prize from the Göttingen Academy of Sciences in 1914, and the Matteucci Medal from the Rome Academy. In 1970, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the far side of the Moon after him. At that time, they were unaware of his involvement with the Nazi party. The name of the crater was removed on August 12, 2020.

Publications

• The discharge of electricity from galvanically glowing coal in diluted gas. (Special reprint from 'Annalen der Physik und Chemie', Neue Folge, Volume 68). Leipzig, 1899
• The electric current between galvanically glowing coal and a metal through diluted gas. (Special reprint from 'Annalen der Physik und Chemie', Neue Folge, Volume 68). Leipzig, 1899
• Change in the conductivity of gases caused by a continuous electric current. (Special reprint from 'Annalen der Physik', 4th Series, Volume 2). Leipzig, 1900
• The effect of heating on the electric glow of a diluted gas. (Special reprint from 'Annalen der Physik', 4th Series, Volume 1). Leipzig, 1900
• Electrostatic effects during the discharge of electricity in diluted gases. (Special reprint from 'Annalen der Physik', 4th Series, Volume 1). Leipzig, 1900
• Critical remarks on the report by Austin and Starke about cathode ray reflection. (Special reprint from 'Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft', Year 4, No. 8). Braunschweig, 1902
• Principles of atomic dynamics. Part 1: Electric quanta. 1910
• Difficulties for the light quantum hypothesis in the case of emission of spectral lines. (Special reprint from 'Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft', Vol. XVI, No. 6). Braunschweig, 1914
• Note on the arc and spark spectrum of helium. (Special reprint from 'Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft', Vol. XVI, No. 10). Braunschweig, 1914
• Conclusions from a valence hypothesis. III. Natural rotation of the light wave plane. (Special reprint from 'Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik', Issue 2, May 1914). Leipzig, 1914
• Method for simultaneous splitting of a line by electric and magnetic fields. (Special reprint from 'Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft', Vol. XVI, No. 7). Braunschweig, 1914
• The current crisis in German physics. ("The Thoroughgoing Crisis in German Physics") 1922
• Nature of chemical valence forces. 1922
• Hitlergeist and Science, 1924 together with Philipp Lenard
• Axiality of light emission and atomic structure, Berlin 1927
• Atomic structure and atomic bonding, A. Seydel, Berlin 1928
• Atomic structural foundations of nitrogen chemistry. Leipzig, 1931
• National Socialism and the Catholic Church. ("National Socialism and the Catholic Church") 1931
• National Socialism and the Catholic Church. II. Part: Response to statements by German bishops. 1931
• National education, 1932
• National Socialism and Science ("National Socialism and Science") 1934
• Stark, J. (1938). "The Pragmatic and the Dogmatic Spirit in Physics". Nature. 141 (3574): 770–772. Bibcode: 1938Natur.141..770S. doi: 10.1038/141770a0.
• Physics of the atomic surface, 1940
• Jewish and German Physics, ("Jewish and German Physics") with Wilhelm Müller, written at the University of Munich in 1941
• National education, central authority, and Jesuit policy, undated
• Hitler's aims and personality ("Hitler's Aims and Personality"), undated