Karl Zimmer

Karl Günter Zimmer (1911 – 29 February 1988) was a German physicist and radiation biologist, known for his work on the effects of ionizing radiation on DNA. In 1935, he published the major work, Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur, with N. V. Timofeev-Resovskij, and Max Delbrück; it was considered to be a major advance in understanding the nature of gene mutation and gene structure. In 1945, he was sent to the Soviet Union to work on their atomic bomb project. In 1955, he left Russia and eventually went to West Germany.

Additional recommended knowledge

Daily Visual Balance Check

Guide to balance cleaning: 8 simple steps

Weighing the right way

Education

Zimmer obtained his doctorate in 1934.^[1]

Career

In Germany

Early on, Zimmer worked as an advisor in radiotherapeutic physics in a radiological hospital and as an employee of Auergesellschaft in Berlin.^[2] However, he completed most of his theoretical work at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft’s Institut für Hirnforschung (KWIH, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research)^[3] in Berlin-Buch. Zimmer worked in N. V. Timofeev-Resovskij’s ^[4] Genetics Department^[5] at the KWIH. Timofeev-Resovskij, a citizen of the Soviet Union, worked in Germany starting in 1924,^[6] and he stayed even after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933.^[7] Very early in Zimmer’s career, in 1935, he published the major work, Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur, with Timofeev-Resovskij, and Max Delbrück; it was considered to be a major advance in understanding the nature of gene mutation and gene structure.^[8] At Auergesellschaft, Zimmer collaborated with Nikolaus Riehl, director of scientific research at the works.^[9]

At the close of World War II, Russia had special search teams operating in Austria and Germany, especially in Berlin, to identify and “requisition” equipment, materiel, intellectual property, and personnel useful to the Soviet atomic bomb project. The exploitation teams under the Russian Alsos, headed by Lavrenij Beria’s deputy Colonel General A. P. Zavenyagin, were composed of scientific staff members, in NKVD officer’s uniforms, from the bomb project’s only laboratory, Laboratory No. 2, in Moscow. In mid-May 1945, the Russian nuclear physicists Georgy Flerov and Lev Artsimovich, in NKVD colonel’s uniforms, compelled Zimmer to take them to the location of Riehl and his staff, who had evacuated their Auergesellschaft facilities and were west of Berlin, hoping to be in an area occupied by the American or British military forces. Riehl was detained at the search team’s facility in Berlin-Friedrichshagen for a week. This sojourn in Berlin turned into 10 years in the Soviet Union! Riehl and his staff, including their families, were flown to Moscow on 9 July 1945. Riehl was to head up a uranium production group at Plant No. 12 in Elektrostal’. ^{[10] [11]}

In Russia

From 1945 to 1950, Riehl was in charge of uranium production at Plant No. 12 in Elektrostal'. When Riehl learned that H. J. Born and Karl Zimmer were being held in Krasnogorsk, the main PoW camp for Germans with scientific degrees, Riehl arranged though Zavenyagin to have them sent to Elektrostal’. Catsch was also sent there. At Elektrostal’, Riehl had a hard time incorporating Born, Catsch, and Zimmer into his tasking on uranium production, as Born was a radiochemist, Catsch was a physician and radiation biologist, and Zimmer was a physicist and radiation biologist.^{[12] [13] [14]}

After the detonation of the Russian uranium bomb, uranium production was going smoothly and Riehl’s oversight was no longer necessary at Plant No. 12. Riehl then went, in 1950, to head an institute in Sungul, where he stayed until 1952. Essentially the remaining personnel in his group were assigned elsewhere, with the exception of Ortmann, who went with Riehl. However, Riehl had already sent Born, Catsch, and Zimmer to the institute in December 1947, where they were able to continue the work they did in Germany. The Sungul institute was responsible for the handling, treatment, and use of radioactive products generated in reactors, as well as radiation biology, dosimetry, and radiochemistry. The institute was known under a cover name as Объект 0211 (Ob’ekt 0211, Object 0211) ^{[15] [16]} and was also called Laboratory B (Sungul/Snezhinsk);^[17] it was overseen by the 9th Chief Directorate of the NKVD, the same organization which oversaw the Russian Alsos operation. The scientific staff at the Sungul institute – a ShARAShKA – was both Soviet and German, the former being mostly political prisoners or exiles, although some of the service staff were criminals. One of the political prisoners there was Riehls’ colleague from the KWIH, N. V. Timofeev-Resovskij, who, as a Soviet citizen, was arrested by the Soviet forces in Berlin at the conclusion of the war, and he was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag.^{[18] [19]}

Before being rejoined in the Soviet Union, Zimmer, Timofeev-Resovskij, and Riehl had collaborated on the biological effects of ionizing radiation.^[20] Also, Zimmer and Timofeev-Resovskij had put together a manuscript which was a comprehensive summary of their work and that of others on radiation-induced gene mutation and related areas; the book, Das Trefferprinzip in der Biologie, was published in Germany while they were in the Soviet Union.^[21] In 1948, due to Lysenkoism, there were grave consequences for the institute in Sungul in general and for Zimmer and Timofeev-Resovskij in particular. The book was put on a forbidden list and the laboratory was not allowed to conduct research on its topics. Since the book represented many years of Zimmer’s life’s work, he was rather downcast by the circumstances.^[22]

In West Germany

Upon Zimmer’s release from the Soviet Union in 1955, he eventually went to West Germany under legal circumstances, where he worked at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center), founded in 1956 and later known as the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.^[23]

Internal Report

The following was published in Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte (Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein. Reports in this publication were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation Alsos and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics.^{[24] [25]}

• Karl G. Zimmer Bericht über die Untersuchungen der relativen Wirksamkeit von Röntgenstrahlen und schnellen Neutronen bezügl. der Erzeugung von Chromosomenmutationen. G-297.^[26]

Selected Literature

The majority of these literature citations have been garnered by searching on variations of the author’s name on Google, Google Scholar, and the Energy Citations Database, and use of a bibliography of N. V. Timofeev-Resovskij provided by the Laboratory of Radiation Biology of the JINR, Dubna.

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Ein Beitrag zur Frage nach der Beziehung zwischen Röntgenstrahlendosis und dadurch ausgelöster Mutationsrate, Strahlentherapie Volume 51 (1934)

• Timofeeff-Ressovky, N. W., K. G. Zimmer, and M. Delbrück Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur, Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen: Mathematische-Physikalische Klasse, Fachgruppe VI, Biologie Bd. 1, Nr. 13, 189-245 (1935). Timofeeff-Ressovsky was identified as being from the Genetische Abteilung des Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituts für Hirnforschung in Berlin-Buch. Zimmer was identified as being from the Strahlenabteilung des Cecilienhauses in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Delbrück was identified as being from the Physikalische-Radioaktive Abteilung des Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituts für Chemie in Berlin-Dahlem. This paper, from the color of the journal’s cover, has become known as the “Green Pamphlet”^[27] and sometimes as the Dreimännerarbeit (Three-Man Paper) of genetics,^[28] to distinguish it from the historical Dreimännerarbeit by Max Born, Werner Heisenberg, and Pascual Jordan, which launched quantum matrix mechanics in 1925.^[29]

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Strahlengenetische Zeitfaktorversuche an Drosophila melanogastery, Strahlentherapie Volume 53, 134-138 (1935)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Wellenlangenunabhangigkeit der mutationsauslösenden Wirkung der Röntgen und Gammastrahlung bei Drosophila melanogaster, Stranlentherapie Volume 54, 265-278 (1935)

• K. G. Zimmer and N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky Auslösung von Mutationen bei Drosophila melanogaster durch a Teilchen nach Emanationseinatmung, Strahlentherapie Volume. 55, 77-84 (1936)

• A. Pickhan, N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, and K. G. Zimmer Versuche an Drosophila melanogaster über die Beeinflussung der mutationsauslosenden Wirkung von Röntgen- und Gammastrahlen durch hochfrequenzfeld und Äthernarkoze, Strahlentherapie Volume 56, 488-496 (1936)

• E. Wilhelmy, N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, and K. G. Zimmer Einige Strahlengenetische Versuche mit Sehr weichen Röntgenstrahlen an Drosophila melanogaster, Strahlentherapie Volume 57, 521-531 (1936)

• K. G. Zimmer, H. D. Griffith, and N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky Mutationsauslösung durch Betastrahlung des Radiums bei Drosophila melanogaster, Strahlentherapie Volume 59, 130-138 (1937)

• K. G. Zimmer and N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky Dosimetrische und strahlenbiologischeversuche mit schnellen Neutronen II, Strahlentherapie Volume 63, 528-536 (1938)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Neutronenbestrahlungsversuche zur Mutationsauslosung an Drosophila melanogaster, Naturwissenschaften Volume 26, # 21-22, 362-365 (1938)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, K. G. Zimmer, F. A. and Heyn Auslösung von Mutationen an Drosophila melanogaster durch schnelle Li+D-Neutronen, Naturwissenschaften Volume 26, # 7, 108-109 (1938)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Strahlengenetik, Strahlentherapie Volume 66, 684-711 (1939)

• K. G. Zimmer and N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky Note on the biological effects of densely ionizing radiation, Phys. Rev. Volume 55, 411 (1939)

• N. Riehl, N. V. Timofeev-Resovskij, and K. G. Zimmer Mechanismus der Wirkung ionisierender Strahlen auf biologische Elementareinheiten, Die Naturwissenschaften Volume 29, Numbers 42-43, 625-639 (1941). Riehl was identified as being in Berlin, and the other two were identified as being in Berlin-Buch.

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Über Zeitproportionalität und Temperaturabhängigkeit der spontanen Mutationsrate von Drosophila, Z. Ind. Abst. Verebl. Volume 79, # 4, 530-537 (1941)

• H. J. Born, N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, and K. G. Zimmer Anwendungen der Neutronen und der künstlich radioaktiven Stoffe in Chemie und Biologe, Umschau Volume 45, # 6, 83-87 (1941)

• H. J. Born, N. W. Timoféeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Biologische Anwendungen des Zählrohres, Naturwissenschaften Volume 30, Number 40, 600-603 (1942). The authors were identified as being in the Genetics Department of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin-Buch.

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Über einige physikalische Vorgange bei der Auslösung von Genemutationen durch Strahlung, Z. Ind. Abst. Verebl. Volume 80, # 3, 353-372 (1942)

• N. Riehl, R. Rompe, N. W. Timoféeff-Ressovsky und K. G. Zimmer Über Energiewanderungsvorgänge und Ihre Bedeutung Für Einige Biologische Prozesse, Protoplasma Volume 38, Number 1, 105-126 (1943). The article was received on 19 April 1943.

• K. G. Zimmer and N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky Nachtrag zu der Arbeit über einige physikalische Vorgange bei der Auslösung von Mutationen, Z. Ind. Abst. Vererbl. Volume 80, # 4 (1943)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and K. G. Zimmer Strahlengenetik, Strahlentherapie Volume 74, 183-211 (1944)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Resovsky and K. G. Zimmer Über die Indeterminiertheit und die Verstarkererscheinungen in der Biologie, Naturwissenschaften Volume 32 (1945)

• A. Catsch, K. G. Zimmer, and O. Peter Radio-Biological Research with Fast Neutrons [In German], Zeitschrift für Naturforschung B: Anorg. Chem., Org. Chem., Biochem., Biophys. Volume 2, 1-5 (1947)

• N. W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, K. G. Zimmer, and P. Jordan Über einige physikalische Vorgange bei der Auslösung von Genemutationen durch Strahlung. II. Auslösung von Genemutationen durch Strahlung, Z. Ind. Abst. Vererbl. Volume 82, # 1, 67-73 (1948)

• G. I. Born (H. J. Born), N. Riehl, K. G. Zimmer, Title translated from the Russian: Efficiency of Luminescence Production by Beta Rays in Zinc Sulfide, Doklaky Akademii Nauk S.S.S.R. Volume 59, March, 1269-1272 (1948)

• K. G. Zimmer On Strongly Absorbing Materials for Radiation Protection [In German], Fortschr. Gebiete Röntgenstrahlen vereinigt mit Röntgenpraxis Volume 71, 143-144 (1949)

• I. M. Rosman and K. G. Zimmer The Use of Scintillators in Dosimetry [In German], Zeitschrift für Naturforschung B: Anorg. Chem., Org. Chem., Biochem., Biophys., Volume 11B, 46-52 (1956)

• I. M. Rosman and K. G. Zimmer An Isodose Plotter of Simple Design, Brit. J. Radiol. Volume 29, 688 (1956)

• K. G. Zimmer Problems of Neutron Dosimetry [In German], Strahlentherapie Volume 101, 143-151 (1956)

• L. Ehrenberg and K. G. Zimmer Action of Ionizing Radiation on Insulating Plastics, Acta Chemica Scandinavica Volume 10, Number 5, 874-875 (1956). Institutional affiliations: Univ. of Stockholm, Sweden; Max-Planck-Institut für physikalische Chemie, Göttingen, Germany.

• K. G. Zimmer The Atomic Research Center-Karlsruhe [In German], Atomwirtschaft, Atomtech. Volume 2, 434-435 (1957). Institutional affiliation: Institute for Radiation Protection and Radiation Biology.

• K. G. Zimmer, L. Ehrenberg, and A. Ehrenberg Determination of Magnetic Centers in Irradiated Biological Media and Their Importance in Radiobiology [In German], Strahlentherapie, Volume 103, 3-15 (1957)

• K. G. Zimmer Development and Present State of Hypothesis Formation in Quantitative Radiation Bilogy [In German], Naturwissenschaften Volume 45, 325-327 (1958). Institutional affiliation:Universität Heidelberg; Institut für Strahlenbiologie an der Reaktorstation, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• I. M. Rozman and K. G. Zimmer The Damage to Plastic Scintillators by Ionizing Radiations, Int. J. Applied Radiation and Isotopes Volume 3, 36-42 (1958)

• I. M. Rozman and K. G. Zimmer On the Use of Plastic Scintillators for Dose Measurements, Int. J. Appl. Radiation and Isotopes Volume 3, 43-44 (1958)

• K. G. Zimmer Evidence for Free-Radical Production in Living Cells Exposed to Ionizing Radiation, Radiation Research Supplement 1, 519-529 (1959). Institutional affiliation: Universität Heidelberg, Germany; Reactor-Station Karlsruhe, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, Germany.

• A. Muller and K. G. Zimmer Some Application Possibilities of Microwave Spectroscopy in Quantitative Radiation Biology [In German], Strahlentherapie Volume 109, 192-199 (1959). Institutional affiliation: Reaktorstation, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• A. Muller, G. Hotz, and K. G. Zimmer Electron Spin Resonance in Bacteriophage: Alive, Dead, and Irradiated, Biochem. Biophys. Research Communs. Volume 4, 214-217 (1961). Institutional affiliation: Nuclear Research Center, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• A. Müller, G. Hotz, and K. G. Zimmer Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe. Sonderabdrucke. 73. Elektronischer Paramagnetismus in Bakteriophagen, Reprint from Zeitschrift für Naturforschung Volume 16b, Number 10, 658-662 (1961). Institutional affiliation: Institut für Strahlenbiologie, Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany.

• K. G. Zimmer Electron Spin Resonances in Biological Systems and Influencing by Radiation and Surrounding Gases [In German], Strahlentherapie, Sonderbände Volume 51, 46-57 (1962). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• K. G. Zimmer, W. Köhnlein, G. Hotz, and A. Muller Electron Spin Resonance in Irradiated Bacteriophages and Their Constituents. Part I [In German], Strahlentherapie Volume 120, 161-190 (1963). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• A. Muller, W. Köhnlein, and K. G. Zimmer X-Ray-Induced unpaired Spins in Nucleic Acid Bases and in 5-bromouracil, Journal of Molecular Biology (England) Volume 7, 92-94 (1963). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• G. Hotz and K. G. Zimmer Experiments in Radiation Chemistry of T1-Phage, Int. J. Radiation Biology; Volume 7, 75-86 (1963). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• K. G. Zimmer Contribution to the Radiobiological Basis of the Maximum Permissible Radiation Dose [In German], Nukleonik (West Germany) Volume 7, 380-383 (1965). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• K. G. Zimmer Some Unusual Topics in Radiation Biology, Radiation Research (U.S.) Volume 28, 830-843 (1966). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• F. Dauch, U. Apitzsch, A. Catsch, and K. G. Zimmer RBE of Fast Neutrons by the Release of Mutations in Drosophila Melanogaster [In German], Mutation Research (Netherlands) Volume 3, 185-193 (1966). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• K. G. Zimmer From Target-Theory to Molecular Radiobiology, Journal: Phys. Med. Biol. Volume 14, 545-553 (1969). Organizational affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

• Zimmer, K. G. Alexander Catsch's 60th anniversary [In German], Strahlentherapie Volume 145, Number 2, 238-239 (1973)

• H. Jung and K. G. Zimmer Physical and biological parameters of interest for evaluating the possible use of pi-mesons, neutrons and charged particles in radiotherapy [In German], Röntgen Bl., Volume 27, Number 8, 381-402 (1974). Organizational affiliations: Universität Hamburg, Institut für Biophysik und Strahlenbiologie; Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Inst. für Strahlenbiologie.

• K. G. Zimmer Easy way to calculate the mean length of trajectories through bodies of given shape, Int. J. Radiation Biology, Volume 25, Number 3, 313 (1974). Institutional affiliation: Kernforschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Books

• Nikolaj V. Timofeev-Ressovskij and Karl Günter Zimmer Biophysik. Bd. 1. Das Trefferprinzip in der Biologie (Hirzel, 1947)

• Karl Günter Zimmer Studien zur quantitativen Strahlenbiologie (Steiner 1960)

• Karl Günter Zimmer Studien zur quantitativen Strahlenbiologie (Abhandlungen der Math-Naturw. Klasse, Jg. 1960, Nr. 3) (Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1960)

• Karl Günter Zimmer Studies on quantitative radiation biology (Oliver and Boyd, 1961)

• Karl Günter Zimmer Studies on quantitative radiation biology (Hafner)

Bibliography

• A. Catsch 60th anniversary of K.G. Zimmer [In German], Strahlentherapie Volume 142, Number 1, 124-5 (1971)

• Hentschel, Klaus (editor) and Ann M. Hentschel (editorial assistant and translator) Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996) ISBN 0-8176-5312-0

• Herrlich, Peter Karl Gunther Zimmer (1911-1988) Radiation Research Volume 116, Number 1, 178-180 (1988)

• Maddrell, Paul Spying on Science: Western Intelligence in Divided Germany 1945–1961 (Oxford, 2006) ISBN 0-19-926750-2

• Oleynikov, Pavel V. German Scientists in the Soviet Atomic Project, The Nonproliferation Review Volume 7, Number 2, 1 – 30 (2000). The author has been a group leader at the Institute of Technical Physics of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center in Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70).

• Riehl, Nikolaus and Frederick Seitz Stalin’s Captive: Nikolaus Riehl and the Soviet Race for the Bomb (American Chemical Society and the Chemical Heritage Foundations, 1996) ISBN 0-8412-3310-1.

• Walker, Mark German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939–1949 (Cambridge, 1993) ISBN 0-521-43804-7

• MPIH – Max-Planck Institut für Hirnforschung (Formerly the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Hirnforschung)

• Nachrichten Göttingen - "Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur" (1935)

• Timoféeff-Ressovsky - Onmedia

• Zimmer Papers – University of Tennessee

Also see

• Russian Alsos

Notes