Maier-leibnitz and neutron optics

Abstract

Professor Heinz Maier-Leibnitz passed away on December 16, 2000 at the age of 89. He was an outstanding scientist and one of the pioneers in the fields of neutron physics and applications of research reactors. He was the initiator and director of the first Munich research reactor FRM, the famous “Atomei,” from 1956 to 1967, and then, until 1972, the first director of the ILL, and one of the founders of that institute. During his years in Garching and in Grenoble an important part of Maier-Leibnitz's activities were devoted to new methods aimed at advancing science at research reactors. Our article covers a selected field where Maier-Leibnitz was enthusiastically engaged, namely neutron optics (in a wider sense including Bragg optics). As in many other fields his contributions lay at the heart of the great success of the ILL.