The Man Who Lit The Sun

Carl Freiherr von Weizsäcker      1912 - 2007
Before Hitler's dark star eclipsed the golden age of quantum mechanics, Carl-Frederich von Weizsacker worked on theoretical physics with Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig. In 1935 he derived the eponymous formula for computing the masses of nuclear isotopes , which Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch used to explain that what Otto Hahn had discovered in Berlin in 1938 was the fission of uranium.

In 1938 von Weizsäcker theorized that solar energy was produced by hydrogen fusion, but averred the proton- proton reaction might be too weak to make the sun shine , as it yields a neutrino. Hans Bethe and Charles Critchfield's later calculations demonstrated it works like blazes.

Comments

[Henry Barth]

Global warming: Will the Sun come to our rescue?

http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19125691.100

[Russell Seitz]

I'd guess some solar variability enthusiasts are relieved to see C-F v.W gone.