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Adolf Bestelmeyer: Physicist & Innovator

Adolf Bestelmeyer (1875-1957) was a German experimental physicist known for his work in torpedo research and his contributions to the study of electromagnetic mass. He engaged in a notable dispute with Alfred Bucherer regarding the accuracy of measurements related to special relativity. Bestelmeyer also developed a magnetic detonator for torpedoes during World War I, for which he received the Iron Cross 1st Class.

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36 views2 pages

Adolf Bestelmeyer: Physicist & Innovator

Adolf Bestelmeyer (1875-1957) was a German experimental physicist known for his work in torpedo research and his contributions to the study of electromagnetic mass. He engaged in a notable dispute with Alfred Bucherer regarding the accuracy of measurements related to special relativity. Bestelmeyer also developed a magnetic detonator for torpedoes during World War I, for which he received the Iron Cross 1st Class.

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Adolf Bestelmeyer

Adolf (Christoph Wilhelm) Bestelmeyer (21 December 1875 – 21 November 1957) was a German
experimental physicist.

Life and work


Bestelmeyer studied mathematics and physics at the Technische Hochschulen in Charlottenburg (now
Technische Universität Berlin) and in Munich (now Technical University of Munich) and the University
of Munich. After his promotion, he worked in 1904 as an assistant at the University of Göttingen. In
World War I he was active in torpedo research, and afterwards he was professor of physics at the
University of Greifswald from 1917 to 1921. He then served until the end of World War II as a laboratory
manager in various companies (like Askania), especially in the area of torpedo construction. [1] [2]

In 1907, Bestelmeyer questioned the accuracy of the measurements by Walter Kaufmann regarding the
speed dependence of the electromagnetic mass. Bestelmeyer used a velocity filter for his own
experiments on cathode rays, and this method was later also used by Alfred Bucherer. While Bucherer
saw the results of his experiments as a confirmation of special relativity, his methods were criticized by
Bestelmeyer, thus a polemical dispute between these two researchers arose. It took years until those
problems could be resolved, and the results of further experiments confirmed the predictions of special
relativity. Which are now again under suspicion. [3]

Bestelmeyer is also known for developing a magnetic detonator for torpedoes in 1917, for which he was
awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class (although there was no time for testing this device in World War I
anymore). [2] [4]

See also
Kaufmann–Bucherer–Neumann experiments

References
1. Lerp, Karl: Zum Gedenken an Prof. Dr. Adolf Bestelmeyer. In: Marine-Rundschau. 6, 1959
2. Meyer, Helmut: Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus. 16,
Wallstein, pp. 122-123, 2007, ISBN 3-8353-0109-8
3. Miller, Arthur I. (1981). Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and
early interpretation (1905–1911) ([Link]
Reading: Addison–Wesley. ISBN 0-201-04679-2.
4. Schubert, P.; Sohst, H.: Die Deutschen Marinen im Minenkrieg. Books on Demand, Rostock
2006, pp. 411f, ISBN 3-8334-4330-8

External links
Literature about Adolf Bestelmeyer ([Link]
3974) in the State Bibliography (Landesbibliographie) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Retrieved from "[Link]

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