Robert Abraham Esau (7 June 1884 – 12 May 1955) was a German physicist.
After receipt of his doctorate from the University of Berlin, Esau worked at Telefunken, where he pioneered very high frequency (VHF) waves used in radar, radio, and television, and he was president of the Deutscher Telefunken Verband. During World War I, he was a prisoner of war of the French; he was repatriated to Germany in 1919. In 1925, he was appointed professor at the University of Jena, where he also served as rector. From 1933, Esau was the State Councilor in Thuringia.
From 1937, Esau was head of the physics section of the newly created Reich Research Council (RFR). From 1939, he was a professor at the University of Berlin and president of the Reich Physical and Technical Institute. From his position in the RFR, he initiated the first meeting of the Uranium Club in early 1939, the precursor to the Army Ordnance Office (HWA) German nuclear energy project, which began in September of that year. When the HWA gave control of the project to the RFR in 1942, Esau became the plenipotentiary of nuclear physics and was in control of the project. In 1944, Esau became the plenipotentiary of the high-frequency engineering and radar working group.
During World War II, Esau was one of the most powerful physicists in Germany. After World War II until 1948, Esau was a prisoner of war of the Dutch. From 1949, Esau was a visiting professor of short-wave technology at the RWTH Aachen. From 1953, he was also head of the Institute of High-Frequency Engineering of the German Aeronautical Research Institute.
Education
Esau was born in Tiegenhagen (Tujec) in Landkreis Marienburg, West Prussia. He was the son of Prussian Mennonites, Osar Abraham Esau (1861–1945) and Maria Agnes (Regier) Esau (1861–1892). From 1902 to 1907, Esau studied at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt University of Berlin) and the Königliche Technische Hochschule zu Danzig (today, Gdańsk University of Technology). From 1906 to 1909, he was a teaching assistant to Max Wien at Danzig. He received his doctorate at the University of Berlin in 1908.
Career
Early years
From 1909 to 1910, Esau was a volunteer at the radio transmission division of the Berlin telegraph battalion. From 1910 to 1912, he was teaching assistant at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. From 1914, he was on active duty with the German military in Togo; he became a prisoner of war of the French and did not return to Germany until 1918.
From 1912 to 1925, Esau served as laboratory chairman of the Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie (Wireless Telegraph Society) in Berlin. During this time, at Telefunken, he pioneered very high frequency (VHF) waves used in radar, radio, and television. In 1921 and 1922, he had stays in Argentina and Brazil. From 1925, Esau was president of the Deutscher Telefunken Verband.
In 1925, Esau began his association with the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. From 1925 to 1927, he was an extraordinarius professor of technical physics, and from 1927 to 1939, he was an ordinarius professor of technical physics and director of the department of technical physics. He was rector there from 1932 to 1935 and in 1937. Dr. Esau was also the advisor of Dr. Lothar Rohde and Dr. Hermann Schwarz, who later on founded the company Rohde & Schwarz, in 1933 during their doctorate in Friedrich Schiller University of Jena.
In October 1933, Esau became a Staatsrat (State Councilor) in Thuringia, a position he held until the end of World War II. This role gave him direct access to Adolf Hitler.
On the initiative of Erich Schumann, the Reichsforschungsrat (RFR, Reich Research Council) was inaugurated on 16 March 1937 by Reich Minister Bernhard Rust of the Reichserziehungsministerium (REM, Reich Education Ministry). The RFR was set up to centralize planning for all basic and applied research in Germany, with the exception of aeronautical research, which was under the supervision of Reich Marshal Hermann Göring. Support for research was decided by the heads of 13 special sections of the RFR (Fachspatenleiter). Esau was a member of the RFR from its inception, and he was head of the physics section (Fachspatenleiter für Physik), which included mathematics, astronomy, and meteorology. From this position in the RFR, he would play major roles in the German nuclear energy project, sometimes also referred to as the Uranverein (Uranium Club).