Thyssen, Peter

He studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg , Greifswald and Göttingen . In the same place in 1923 he defended his dissertation under the direction of the classic of colloidal chemistry, Richard Zigmondi, on the topic "Critical Studies of Colloidal Gold." After defending his doctoral dissertation in 1926-1932, he held temporary posts as an assistant professor and an extraordinary professor at the universities of Göttingen, Frankfurt and Münster. In 1935 he received an invitation from an ordinary professor at the University of Münster. In the same year he received an invitation to head the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (today the Max Planck Society ) in Berlin Dahlem .

The Thyssen-led institute was the largest of thirty institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, had about a hundred employees, the most modern equipment at that time, and its budget exceeded the budgets of a dozen other important institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in total. Professor Thiessen took one of the leading positions in the scientific research world of Germany on the eve and during the war. He was the head of the chemistry sector at the Nazi State Research Council of Germany. This meant that he knew all the plans for research work in the field of chemistry and he had access to the course of their implementation and the results. Thyssen was also a member of the leadership of the so-called “chemical headquarters”, which consisted of three members: Prof. Prof. I. Farbenindustri, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the concern. Krauch, the head of the German Society of Chemists, state adviser Schieber and Thyssen himself. Possessing a phenomenal memory, Thyssen knew not only the direction of research in the field of chemistry, but was also devoted to the secrets of the German chemical industry, to its methods, planning and was in contact with the largest chemical industrialists.

At the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, he also participated in the organization and conduct of scientific research on the creation of chemical poisonous substances for the German armed forces, including the "miracle weapon" - the poison gas of chlorine trifluoride (N-substance) . This substance was never used for military purposes, but it turned out to be effective in the production of uranium fluorides. He knew the most important scientific secrets of Nazi Germany and was one of the main goals of the capture of the scientific elite at the end of the war by the American secret services and the NKVD. This was the reason why the Soviet Union quickly forgot its ideological past.

At the end of World War II, the NKVD was taken to the USSR and worked in the atomic program to create the first Soviet atomic bomb . From 1945 to 1950, he worked at the “A” facility - created by the NKVD on the basis of the Sinop sanatorium near Sukhumi . At the same site “A”, under the direction of another famous German scientist, Baron von Ardenne, a group of German “captured” specialists worked on the creation of electromagnetic methods for the separation of uranium isotopes. Professor Thyssen led the group on the creation of metallic nickel filters for gas diffusion enrichment of uranium isotopes , and his research problems included corrosion problems. His group created a new type of tubular nickel filters for gas-phase enrichment of uranium isotopes and organized the production of these filters at the plant of the city of Electrostal .

From October 1948 to March 1949, he, together with Dr. Barvikh was seconded to Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk-44), named by him “Kefirstadt”, here he performed successful work to improve the quality of diaphragm filters and the corrosion resistance of all process equipment in uranium gas diffusion separation units. Here, at a meeting of the Technical Council, he only once had to see Beria alive and exchange remarks with him. He modestly complained to Beria that they were in vain forbidden to directly communicate with Soviet specialists.

In 1951, he received the Stalin Prize of the first degree for his work on creating filters. After testing the first Soviet atomic bomb, he, like other German scientists, was removed from "secret" work.

From the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 3089-1203ss / op Moscow, the Kremlin; July 8, 1952 Sov. Secret (Special Folder):

"5. To oblige the First Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Comrade Vannikov Zavenyagin ): a) to transfer from NII-5 (SIPT) to plant No. 12, prof. Thyssen and 2 Soviet specialists to work on improving the production technology of MF tubes 4 and developing new types of MF tubes; b) consider and with the participation of prof. Thyssen to resolve the issue of involving him in work in the field of physical chemistry. "

After that, he was still in quarantine for a long time in the Soviet Union, working at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the department of academician P. A. Rebinder , here Pyotr Adolfovich Thyssen, as his Soviet colleagues began to call him, began his fundamental work in tribology and physics chemical mechanics.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 20, 1956, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for the successful completion of a special task of the Government ^[1] .

In 1956 he returned to the GDR . Until 1964, he was director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR.

• 1925−1928 and from 1933 again - a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Party ticket Nr. 3096)
• 1939-1945 - Member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
• c 1955 - Member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR
• 1957-1965 - Chairman of the Scientific Council of the GDR
• 1960-1963 - non-partisan member of the State Council of the GDR
• 1966 - Foreign Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences

• Laureate of the Stalin Prize (1951)
• USSR State Prize (1956)
• The order of Lenin
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (11/20/1956)
• GDR National Award (1958)
• Helmholtz Medal (1981)

• Thermisch-mechanische Materialtrennung. Reihe: Der Chemie-Ingenieur. Band I, Teil 3. Leipzig 1933 (als Mitautor)
• Grundlagen der Tribochemie. Berlin 1967 (als Mitautor)
• Blick ins nächste Jahrzehnt: Entwicklungswege der Wissenschaften. Jena 1968

• Memoirs of Dr. H. Barvikha “The Red Atom” - Das Rote Atom. Fischer, Frankfurt / M. 1970 (The Red Atom, along with Alfie Barvikha)
• Sadovsky A.S., Tovmash A.V. History of weapons-grade uranium against the backdrop of the Kapitsa conflict. (Part 1). - The electronic journal Investigated in Russia, 77, 1036-1048, 2009, http://zhurnal.ape.relarn.ru/articles/2009/077.pdf (inaccessible link)
• Photos of German scientists who participated in the atomic program to create the first Soviet atomic bomb on the website of the Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology (SIPT) named after I. Vekua, Tbilisi

Trophy Brigades