Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
What organization did Ernst Schmutzer join in 1969?
Ernst Schmutzer Ernst Schmutzer ( born 26 February 1930 ) is a German theoretical physicist . Life . Early years . Ernst Schmutzer was born in 1930 in a small village in western Bohemia , which at that time had been part of Czechoslovakia for slightly more than a decade . By May 1945 , when the war ended , he had attended schools in three different local villages . The area was occupied by the Americans on 1 May 1945 , and less than a year later the entire German speaking population had been expelled . Schmutzers schooling continued across the border in Weiden . By the time he passed his school final exams in 1949 he had been relocated again , this time to Waren ( Müritz ) in the northern part of what had at the time been designated the Soviet occupation zone in what remained of Germany . A few months later , in October 1949 , the occupation zone was re-founded as the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) . Career progress . He studied at the University of Rostock , obtaining his first degree in 1953 and his doctorate just two years later . His dissertation , for which he was supervised by Hans Falkenhagen , concerned Electrolyte . After this , in 1955 he obtained a position as a research assistant at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena which is where in 1958 he obtained his habilitation ( a higher academic qualification ) . He obtained a lectureship at Jena in 1959 and in 1960 a professorship ( with a teaching contract ) in Theoretical physics . From 1968 till 1990 he was in charge of the Relativistic Physics field at Jena , serving between 1974 and 1978 as Dean of the Mathematics , Natural Sciences and Engineering faculty . Between 1990 and his retirement in 1993 he was of Jenas Friedrich Schiller University in succession to Hans Schmigalla . Focus . Schmutzer is concerned with the Theories of Relativity and Gravitation . He investigated extensions of General relativity theory in a supplementary spatial dimension which he terms Projective Unified Field Theory ( Projektive Einheitliche Feldtheorie ) , extrapolating from the ideas of Theodor Kaluza . This invokes five space-time dimensions including a massive supplementary scalar field which , according to Schmutzer , can serve as an explanation for the accelerating expansion of the universe identified in the 1990s ( as a candidate for dark energy ) and for the Pioneer effect . According to Schmutzers theory the singularities of General relativity theory are smoothed , so that instead of a Big bang singularity , matter begins with a more gentle progression which Schmutzer terms an Urstart . Politics . Politics was peripheral to Ernst Schmutzers career , but in the German Democratic Republic it was hard to entirely ignore the countrys ruling Socialist Unity Party . He joined the SED ( party ) in 1949 , but was then expelled from it in 1958 . The official report contained the conclusions that Schmutzer was in a fundamental disagreement with Party Policy regarding the practical transformation of the university . Following months of discussions in which Dr . Schmutzer had shown total disregard for party policy regarding scientific work , the conclusion was reached that his membership in the party could only be damaging to it , and he was expelled from the party . Political exclusion turned out less damaging to Schmutzers career than might have been anticipated . He was one of just a handful of Jena professors permitted to visit western universities as a guest lecturer . In 1967 he taught at Queen Mary College in London . International reputation . Schmutzer became one of East Germanys leading theoretical physicists . An internationally recognised authority on Gravitational Physics , in 1979 he was able to celebrate Albert Einsteins centenary by attracting to Jena the 9th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation which took place in July 1980 . In Jena he created a School of Gravitation Physics , members of which include Hans Stephani , Dietrich Kramer and Eduard Herlt , and which has established a name for itself , most notably , with investigation of precise solutions for the Einstein field equations . Between 1980 and 1990 he was a principal editor of the scientific journal Experimentelle Technik der Physik . Schmutzers published output includes a comprehensive textbook on Theoretical Physics as well as an Introduction to Relativity Theory . Awards , honours and memberships . - 1969 : Member Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - 1977 : ( awarded by the Leopoldina Academy ) - 1978 : Service Medal from the Charles University in Prague - 1981 : National Prize of East Germany - 1990 : Corresponding Member German Academy of Sciences at Berlin ( till 1992 ) - 1990 : Member - 1991 : Member Saxonian Academy of Sciences and Humanities - 1995 : Member - 2005 : Name entered in the Golden Book of the City of Jena In Jena Ernst Schmutzer is an honorary member of the ( Arminius Student Fraternity of the City [ hostelry ] Cellar ) .