Carl Heinrich Hermann (17 June 1898 – 12 September 1961), or Carl HermannGerman:[kaʁlˈhɛʁman]ⓘ, was a German physicist and crystallographer known for his research in crystallographic symmetry, nomenclature, and mathematical crystallography in N-dimensional spaces. Hermann was a pioneer in crystallographic databases and, along with Paul Peter Ewald, published the first volume of the influential Strukturbericht (Structure Report) in 1931.[1]
Life
Early life and education
Hermann was born in the north German port town of Wesermünde to parents both of long-time ministerial families.
Along with Ewald in Stuttgart, he nurtured the growing field of crystallography, especially the study of space groups, and began what was later to become Structure Reports (Strukturbericht),[5] a reference series giving every known crystal structure determination.[1] During his Stuttgart years, Hermann also developed the first description of anisotropic properties of materials from a crystallographic perspective.[6][7]
When the Nazi Party rose to power, he objected to its political restrictions on academic positions, leaving to take a position as a physicist with the industrial dye firm I.G. Farben at Ludwigshafen, where he continued his crystallographic research and studied symmetry in higher-dimensional spaces.
World War II
During World War II, he and his wife Eva Hermann-Lueddecke [de] (1900 – 1997), who were both Quakers and pacifists, helped provide deported Jews with food, clothing and other resources. After the city of Mannheim was declared Judenfrei (free of Jews), they hid Jews in their home from Nazi authorities. In 1943 he and his wife were arrested and brought before a special tribunal. As his scientific work was deemed too essential to the war effort, Hermann was given a "mild" sentence of eight years of imprisonment, while Eva was sentenced to three years. He was allowed to continue his research while imprisoned, being brought to his laboratory in the mornings and taken back to his cell at night. After two years of imprisonment, he and Eva were both released at the end of the war.[8]
Later activities
After the war, he lectured briefly at Darmstadt Polytechnic (now Darmstadt university of technology) between 1946 and 1947. Then, in 1947, he accepted a newly formed chair in crystallography at the University of Marburg, where he became director of the Crystallographic Institute and remained until his death. During his Marburg years, Hermann's research laid the foundation for N-dimensional crystallography.[9]
In 1976, for their work in saving Jews from the Holocaust, Hermann and his wife Eva were honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. Eva Hermann wrote about the honor: "I am fully conscious of the fact that my late husband and I did nothing special; we simply tried to remain human in the midst of inhumanity."[8]
^Burzlaff, H.; Zimmermann, H. (2006-10-01), Hahn, Th. (ed.), "Point-group symbols", International Tables for Crystallography, vol. A (1 ed.), Chester, England: International Union of Crystallography, pp. 818–820, doi:10.1107/97809553602060000524, ISBN978-0-7923-6590-7, archived from the original on 2022-07-24, retrieved 2022-07-24
