SCHMIDT E

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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11.2.1892 Vögelsen/D - 22.1.1975 München/D

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Ernst Schmidt made studies in civil engineering and electro-techniques at the Universities of Dresden and Munich, with a diploma in 1919. He then submitted both a PhD and a habilitation thesis to the latter university and was appointed professor of heat flow at Danzig University in 1925. In 1937 Schmidt accepted the directorship of the Institute of Motor research at the newly founded Aviation Research Center, Braunschweig. He was appointed professor at the University of Braunschweig in 1945 and in 1952 moved to Munich Technical University TUM as successor of Wilhelm Nusselt (1882-1957) and there served as rector in the term 1956/58. He was awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Aachen and Glasgow and received the Eucken-Medal, and the Max-Jakob-Award commemorating Max Jakob (1879-1955). Schmidt was a Member of the Scientific Association of Braunschweig.

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Schmidt's "pioneering papers" were mainly published during his stay in Danzig: He proposed a difference scheme for unsteady heat conduction, a shadow-Schlieren procedure for visualizing thermal boundary layers, observations of drop condensation, and the analogy between transfers of heat and matter. The latter work led to the Schmidt number. It represents the same phenomena as the Prandtl number except that the molecular diffusivity of heat is replaced by the molecular diffusivity of a general substance. The famous book Technische Thermodynamik was used by generations of engineers. Its 11th edition was published in the 1980s. Schmidt was particularly attached to Verein Deutscher Ingenieure VDI and served as chairmen of the section Heat transfer from 1933 to 1958. He was also the German representative of steam research from 1954 to 1967. He founded in 1945 the VDI Association process and chemical engineering GVC. Schmidt was awarded in 1956 the Grashof-Denkmünze, VDI's highest honor.

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_{Anonymous (1955). Prof. Ernst Schmidt. The Aeroplane 89: 1009. P}

_{Brauer, H. (1986). Ernst Schmidt. Wärmeund Stoffübertragung 20: 338. P}

_{Grigull, U. (1975). Ernst Schmidt zum Gedächtnis. VDI Zeitschrift 117(9): 429. P}

_{Grigull, U. (1975). Ernst Schmidt zum Gedächtnis. Wärmeund Stoffübertragung 8: 69-70. P}

_{Schmidt, E. (1934). Über die Bewegungsverhältnisse von Gas-Flüssigkeitsgemischen. VDI Hauptversammlung Trier: 14-16.}

_{Schmidt, E. (1935). Wärmeübertragung. 4 IUTAM Congress Cambridge: 93-112. Schmidt, E. (1936). Technische Thermodynamikhttp://www.seas.ucla.edu/jht/pioneers/pioneers.html . Springer: Berlin. http://www.seas.ucla.edu/jht/pioneers/pioneers.html}