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151-483: Hans Ferdinand Mayer received his doctorate in physics from the University of Heidelberg in 1920. After spending two years as a research associate there in his doctoral supervisor's ( Philipp Lenard ) laboratory, he joined Siemens AG in 1922. He became interested in telecommunications and joined Siemens' communication research laboratory, becoming its director in 1936. In this position, he had contacts all over Europe and

302-683: A Center for Latin America in Santiago , Chile in 2001. It has the task of organizing, managing, and marketing the courses of study maintained either independently by Heidelberg University or in cooperation with the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Chile . The center has responsibility for programs of postgraduate education . It also coordinates the activities of Heidelberg University in Latin America, and provides

453-495: A bombing direction system based on the Lorenz concept through the 1930s, as it made night navigation relatively easy by simply listening for signals on a radio set, and the necessary radios were already being installed on many aircraft. For bombing use, the modifications to Lorenz were fairly minor. Much larger antennas were needed to provide the required accuracy. This was achieved by using aerials with many more elements, but it retained

604-610: A book about his wartime scientific intelligence work for MI6 but it did not appear until 1978, when it was published as Most Secret War in the UK and The Wizard War in the United States. In the book, he discussed how he used the Oslo Report but did not reveal the author. Inevitably, the question will be asked regarding my own ideas about the identity of the Oslo author. I believe that I know, but

755-709: A consequence of the Bologna process , most faculties now offer Bachelor's , Master's , and Ph.D. degrees to comply with the new European degree standard. Notable exceptions are the undergraduate programs in law, medicine, dentistry and pharmacy , from which students still graduate with the State Examination , a central examination at Master's level held by the State of Baden-Württemberg. The university has partnerships nationally and internationally. In particular, it maintains longstanding collaborations in research and education with

906-539: A correspondence with Mayer using Turner as a middleman. Jones and Mayer met at a 1955 radar conference in Munich and had dinner with Turner at Mayer's house. Jones quickly determined that Mayer had written the Oslo Report. They agreed that divulging who had written the Report would serve no purpose and agreed to silence. They continued to exchange letters, with Mayer providing more details about how he wrote it. Jones decided to write

1057-450: A diameter of 78 cm (30.7 in). The crucial item of information omitted by the author of the Oslo Report was the use of liquid fuels in the German ballistic rocket program. Rechlin is a small town on the southern shore of Lake Müritz north of Berlin , with the turf-covered airfield – some 4.5 km (2.8 mi) north of the 21st century Rechlin–Lärz Airfield – being the core of

1208-472: A dinner at his London club. On 15 December 1953 the dinner was arranged, during which one of Jones' friends, Professor Frederick Norman of King's College London , excitedly shouted "Oslo!!". Turner and Norman privately told Jones over after-dinner drinks that Turner had heard from his old German friend, Hans Ferdinand Mayer at the beginning of the war, in a letter written from Oslo. Upon learning of Mayer's background and position at Siemens , Jones decided to open

1359-470: A great extent in buildings spread over the ancient part of town, though most are less than ten minutes walk from University Square. The faculties maintain their own extensive libraries and work spaces for students. Seminars and tutorials are usually held in the faculty buildings. In the 1960s the university started building a new campus near the city district Neuenheim, called the Neuenheimer Feld. It

1510-568: A large campus for medicine and natural sciences was constructed. Today, about 29,000 students are enrolled for studies at Heidelberg University. There are 4,196 full-time faculty, including 476 university professors. In 2007, and again in 2012, the university was appointed University of Excellence under an initiative started by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation . This enhanced

1661-498: A much more accurate version of the same basic concept, which was eventually delivered as X-Gerät (X-Apparatus). X-Gerät used a series of beams to locate the target, each beam named after a river. The main beam, Weser , was similar in concept to the one used in Knickebein but operated at a much higher frequency. Due to the nature of radio propagation, this allowed its two beams to be pointed much more accurately than Knickebein from

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1812-513: A new field called "Scientific Intelligence". Jones argued that despite the breadth of information and a few inaccuracies, the technical details were correct and argued that all the electronic systems divulged therein be further explored. In a 1940 report, Jones summarized his thoughts, The contribution of this source to the present problem may be summarised in the statements that the Germans were bringing into use an R.D.F. [ Radio Direction Finding ,

1963-410: A new instrument was being used that automatically decoded the dots and dashes and moved a pointer on a display in the cockpit in front of the pilot. This device was fitted with a very sharp filter which was sensitive only at 2,000 Hz, and not to the early British 1,500 Hz counter-signals. While the jammers were modified accordingly, this came too late for the raid on Coventry on 14 November; but

2114-476: A one-eyed god, and might refer to a single-beam navigation system. Jones agreed, and knew that a system with one beam would have to include a distance-measurement system. He concluded that it might work on the basis described by the anti-Nazi German mathematician and physicist Hans Mayer , who while visiting Norway had provided a large amount of information in what is now known as the Oslo Report . Y-Gerät used

2265-451: A plant by the Germans, because no one man could possibly have known all of the developments that the report described. But as the War progressed and one development after another actually appeared, it was obvious that the report was largely correct; and in the few dull moments of the War I used to look up the Oslo report to see what should be coming along next. This part of his talk caught the eye of

2416-612: A platform for scientific cooperation. Heidelberg University's South Asia Institute maintains branch offices in New Delhi (India)), Islamabad (Pakistan), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The university is also represented by a liaison office in New York. Its main tasks include promoting existing collaborations, building up new networks, creating joint study programs, and maintaining and expanding academic contacts with American universities. The university has its own museum, in

2567-514: A prototype proximity fuze . He also wrote a letter to his long-time British friend Henry Turner , asking him to communicate with him via their Danish colleague Niels Holmblad. This indirect communication path was required since Britain and Germany were at war, but Denmark was neutral. Mayer continued his travels to Denmark to visit Holmblad, asking if he could relay information between himself and Turner. Holmblad readily agreed, but once Hitler invaded Denmark on 9 April 1940, this communication route

2718-587: A proximity fuze, i.e. one that detonates a warhead as it nears a target. The fuze he described sensed its target by changes in partial capacitances, which in practice turned out to be impracticable. He mentioned its anti-aircraft applications and its use in anti-personnel artillery shells, an application which was later employed by the Allies. Mayer concluded by mentioning that the fuzes were manufactured by Rheinmetall in Sömmerda , Thüringen . On 12 February 1947, Jones gave

2869-533: A rocket motor. This description is similar to the Blohm & Voss BV 143 , or if the wingspan alone is considered, it could have referred to the Henschel Hs 293 design, controlled with an FuG 203 Kehl transmitter in the aircraft and an FuG 230 Straßburg receiver in the ordnance. Here, Mayer briefly described another remote-controlled system, this time for an aircraft instead of for a rocket. The German word Geschoss

3020-405: A series of three very narrow single beams, Rhine , Oder and Elbe . They were carefully aimed to define a precise bomb release trajectory. First a bomb release point along Weser was determined, by calculating the range or distance the bombs would travel between release and impact, and picking a point at that range to target. The Elbe beam intersected Weser 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) before

3171-583: A similarly sized antenna; the equi-signal area was only about 100 yards (91 m) wide at a distance of 200 miles (320 km) from the antenna. The beams were so narrow that bombers could not find them without help, so a low-power wide-beam version of Knickebein was set up at the same station to act as a guide. The main Weser antenna was set up just to the west of Cherbourg in France. The "cross" signal in X-Gerät used

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3322-579: A single individual who in one great flash had given us a synoptic glimpse of much of what was foreshadowed in German military electronics. While Jones trusted the Oslo Report, the Admiralty thought that the Report was "too good to be true" and was deception by the Abwehr , with its fantastic claims written by psychological warfare experts. An additional argument raised by the doubters was that no person could have such wide knowledge of weapons technology as discussed in

3473-401: A single narrow beam pointed over the target, similar to earlier beam systems, transmitting a modulated radio signal. The system used a transponder ( FuG 28a ) that received the signal from the beam and immediately re-transmitted it to the ground station. The ground station listened for the return signal and compared the phase of its modulation to the transmitted signal, which accurately determined

3624-651: A straight line with a relatively high degree of accuracy, so much so that pilots could then find the runway visually except in the worst conditions. During the early 1930s, the concept of a night bombing strategic campaign began to become paramount in military aviation circles. This was due to the ever-increasing performance of bombers , which were beginning to have the capability to strike across Europe with useful bomb loads. These aircraft were slow and lumbering, easy prey for interceptors , but this threat could be essentially eliminated by flying at night. A bomber, painted black, could be spotted only at very short ranges. As

3775-476: A system being developed at Rechlin for navigating German bombers to their targets, which used a radio transmission accurately to locate a bomber's range from the transmitter. This was the Y-Gerät (Y-apparatus). Mayer gave the wavelength as 6 m (20 ft) (50 MHz). Mayer's description was fairly accurate, though it actually operated at 45 MHz. Mayer described two new types of torpedoes in service with

3926-614: A talk to the Royal United Services Institute that publicly revealed for the first time the existence and importance of the Oslo Report. It [the Oslo Report] told us that the Germans had two kinds of radar equipment, that large rockets were being developed, that there was an important experimental establishment at Peenemünde and that rocket-driven glider bombs were being tried there. There was also other information—so much of it in fact that many people argued that it must be

4077-413: A total of 28,949 students, including 5,276 international students. In addition there are 1,467 international exchange students at Heidelberg. 23,636 students pursue taught degrees, 4,114 of whom are international students, and 919 are international exchange students. 4,114 students pursue a doctoral degree , including 1,444 international doctoral students and 15 international exchange students . In 2007,

4228-404: Is an open access platform for members of the university. The university bibliography heiBIB lists all academic publications by university members. In 2015, Heidelberg University founded the publishing house Heidelberg University Publishing – heiUP, which is part of the university library. The publisher releases quality-controlled scientific publications in open access. Heidelberg University founded

4379-519: Is at Kiel , and was expected to be finished in April 1940. The carrier was referred to as Franken . It is sometimes suggested that Mayer was mistaken and that he was instead identifying the carrier Graf Zeppelin . The construction of Graf Zeppelin was well known to Allied navies. Following Kriegsmarine ship naming policy, she was known as " Flugzeugträger A " prior to her launch and naming on 8 December 1938. A second carrier known as " Flugzeugträger B "

4530-536: Is located in the former Ludolf Krehl clinic (named after Ludolf von Krehl ) in the inner-city suburb of Heidelberg-Bergheim . Since March 2009 it has housed the institutes economics, political science, and sociology (together the Heidelberg University Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences) that formerly resided at the Old Town campus. The Bergheim campus offers one lecture theatre, several seminar rooms,

4681-682: Is ranked 1st in Germany and 5th in Continental Europe. In the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2019 Heidelberg University is ranked 1st in Germany and 13th in Continental Europe over all sciences according to the scientific impact (number of publications in core journals). According to the indicator "Collaboration", Heidelberg University is 1st in Germany and 10th in Europe. Knickebein The Battle of

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4832-502: Is the ' legislative branch ' of the university. The rector and the members of the rectorate are senators ex officio , as are also the deans of the faculties, as well as the medical and managing directors of the University Hospital , and the university's equal opportunities officer . Another 20 senators are elected for four-year terms, within the following quotas: eight university professors; four academic staff; four delegates of

4983-561: Is today the largest part of the university, and the largest campus for natural sciences and life science in Germany. Almost all science faculties and institutes, the medical school, University Hospital Heidelberg , and the science branch of the University Library are situated on the New Campus. Most of the dormitories and the athletic facilities of the university can be found there as well. Several independent research institutes, such as

5134-684: Is usually German, while a considerable number of graduate degrees are offered in English as well as some in French. As of 2021, 57 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the city of Heidelberg and 33 with the university itself. Modern scientific psychiatry , psychopharmacology , experimental psychology , psychiatric genetics , mathematical statistics , environmental physics , and modern sociology were introduced as scientific disciplines by Heidelberg students or faculty. Approximately 1,000 doctorates are completed every year, with more than one third of

5285-582: The Codex Manesse , which had ended up in the Royal Library in Paris, followed in 1888. Karl Zangemeister (1837–1902) became the first full-time head of the university library in 1912. Based on the designs of architect Joseph Durum, a dedicated library building, a richly ornamented, four-winged red sandstone construction, was erected from 1901 to 1905. In 1978, a branch library opened in the Neuenheimer Feld, serving

5436-502: The Curia , which ultimately led to a papal bull for foundation of a university. After having received, on 23 October 1385, permission from pope Urban VI to create a school of general studies ( Latin : studium generale ), the final decision to found the university was taken on 26 June 1386 at the behest of Rupert I, Count Palatine of the Rhine . As specified in the papal charter, the university

5587-572: The Frankfurt Parliament of 1848 . During the late 19th century, the university housed a very liberal and open-minded spirit, which was deliberately fostered by Max Weber , Ernst Troeltsch and a circle of colleagues around them. In February 1900, the Grand Duchy of Baden issued a decree that gave women the right to access universities in Baden. Thus, the universities of Freiburg and Heidelberg were

5738-542: The German Cancer Research Center and two of the Max-Planck-Institutes have settled there. The New Campus is also the seat of several biomedical spin-off companies. The old part of town can be reached by tram and bus in about 10 minutes. The Neuenheimer Feld campus has extensive parking lots for faculty and student vehicles for long term and short term parking, as well as visitors and patients of

5889-746: The Holy Roman Empire after Prague (1347) and Vienna (1365). Since 1899, it has been a coeducational institution. Heidelberg is one of the most prestigious universities in Germany. It is a German Excellence University , part of the U15 , as well as a founding member of the League of European Research Universities and the Coimbra Group . The university consists of twelve faculties and offers degree programmes at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels in some 100 disciplines. The language of instruction

6040-580: The Hotel Bristol . Mayer borrowed a typewriter from the hotel, and typed the seven-page Oslo Report in the form of two letters over two days. He mailed the first on 1 November, asking the British military attaché to arrange for the BBC World Service to alter the introduction to its German-language programme if he wished to receive the Report. This was done, and he sent the Report along with a vacuum tube from

6191-412: The Knickebein headache were codenamed "Aspirin". Initially, modified medical diathermy sets transmitted interference. Later, local radio transmitters broadcast an extra "dot signal" at low power on nights where raids were expected. The German practice of turning on the beams long before the bombers reached the target area aided the British efforts. Avro Ansons fitted with receivers would be flown around

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6342-628: The Luftwaffe 's central Erprobungstelle aviation test facility, first built as a military airfield by the German Empire in August 1918. The facility's main grass airfield, set up in the manner of a pre-WW II aerodrome without clearly defined runways, was bounded by a roughly hexagonal-layout perimeter road that is extant. Mayer noted that the Luftwaffe's laboratories and research centers were there and that it

6493-499: The Oder to Elbe distance equalled the Elbe to release point distance, a bomber flying at constant speed arrived at the release point as the moving hand reached zero, when the bombs were automatically released. X-Gerät operated at a much higher frequency than Knickebein (around 60 MHz) and thus required the use of new radio equipment. There was not enough equipment to fit all bombers, so

6644-551: The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg ; Latin : Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis ), is a public research university in Heidelberg , Baden-Württemberg , Germany . Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI , Heidelberg is Germany's oldest university and one of the world's oldest surviving universities ; it was the third university established in

6795-586: The Treaty of Lunéville , the university lost all its property on the left bank of the Rhine , so that its complete dissolution was expected. This decline did not stop until 1803, when the university was reestablished as a state-owned institution by Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden , to whom the part of the Palatinate situated on the right bank of the Rhine was allotted. Since then, the university bears his name together with

6946-631: The Wehrmacht moved their forces to the East in May 1941, in preparation for the attack on the Soviet Union . The idea of beam radio navigation was developed during the 1930s, initially as a blind landing aid. The basic concept is to produce two directional radio signals that are aimed slightly to the left and right of a runway 's midline. Radio operators in the aircraft listen for these signals and determine which of

7097-480: The Weser beam and reached Rhine , the radio operator heard a brief signal and set up his equipment. This consisted of a special stop-clock with two hands. When the Oder signal was received the clock automatically started and the two hands simultaneously swept up from zero. When the Elbe signal was received, one hand stopped and the other reversed, sweeping back towards zero. The stopped hand indicated an accurate measurement of travel time from Oder to Elbe . Since

7248-467: The Wotan system badly. It operated at 45 MHz, which happened to be the frequency of the powerful-but-dormant BBC television transmitter at Alexandra Palace . All Jones had to do was arrange for the return signal to be received from the aircraft and then sent to Alexandra Palace for re-transmission. The combination of the two signals modified the phase shift, and thus the apparent transit delay. Initially,

7399-499: The start of the war on 1 September 1939, Lufthansa and the German aircraft industry invested heavily in the development of commercial aviation, and in systems and methods that would improve safety and reliability. Considerable effort went into blind-landing aids which allowed aircraft to approach an airport at night or in foul weather. The primary system developed for this was the Lorenz system , developed by Johannes Plendl , which

7550-435: The student body ; and four employees of the university administration. The University Council is the advisory board to the aforementioned entities and encompasses, among others, the former Israeli Ambassador to Germany Avi Primor , as well as CEOs of German industries. After a 2003 structural reformation, the university consists of 13 faculties , which in turn comprise several disciplines, departments, and institutes. As

7701-404: The 38 branch libraries add another 3.0 million printed books. In 2022, 43,600 active users accessed 746,000 books. Additionally, the University Library provides a wide array of online resources, among them 152,000 scientific e-journals . The origins of today's University Library date back to 1386, the year the university was founded. Surrounding the new university, the libraries of the faculty of

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7852-501: The 55th position worldwide and was ranked first nationally. According to the funding report of the German Research Foundation (DFG) of 2018, which breaks down the grants from 2014 to 2016, the Heidelberg University ranked 2nd among German universities in the overall ranking, 7th in humanities and social sciences and 4th among German universities in the life sciences and natural sciences . The approvals were normalised to

8003-621: The Air Ministry, led by R. V. Jones , became aware of the system when the Royal Aircraft Establishment analysed a downed German bomber's Lorenz system and observed it was far more sensitive than required for a mere landing aid. Secretly recorded transcripts from German prisoner of war pilots indicated this may have been a bomb aiming aid. Winston Churchill had also been given Ultra intelligence from decrypted Enigma messages that mentioned 'bombing beams'. When Jones mentioned

8154-684: The Beams was a period early in the Second World War when bombers of the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe ) used a number of increasingly accurate systems of radio navigation for night bombing in the United Kingdom . British scientific intelligence at the Air Ministry fought back with a variety of their own increasingly effective means, involving jamming and deception signals . The period ended when

8305-399: The British name for radar] system similar to our own,... A careful review of the whole report leaves only two possible conclusions: (1) that it was a "plant" to persuade us that the Germans were as well advanced as ourselves or (2) that the source was genuinely disaffected from Germany, and wished to tell us all he knew. The general accuracy of the information, the gratuitous presentation of

8456-467: The British to fool the Germans into dropping their bombs where they wanted them. A side effect was that as the German crews had been trained to navigate solely by the beams, many crews failed to find either the true equisignal or Germany again. Some Luftwaffe bombers even landed at RAF bases, believing they were back at base. As good as Knickebein was, it was never intended to be used in the long-range role. Plendl had been working for some time to produce

8607-438: The German navy. The first was a type of acoustic torpedo designed to be used from distances of 10 km (6.2 mi). It was intended to be steered close to a convoy using a long wave radio receiver, then two acoustic receivers in the head of the torpedo would take over when it came within a few hundred metres of a ship. The second type of torpedo (mentioned as the same type that was used to sink HMS  Royal Oak in 1939),

8758-420: The German transmitters, making it impossible to tell which signal was which. In this case the navigators would receive the equisignal over a wide area, and navigation along the bomb line became impossible, with the aircraft drifting into the "dash area" and no way to correct for it. Thus the beam was seemingly "bent" away from the target. Eventually, the beams could be inclined by a controlled amount which enabled

8909-428: The German university system by establishing a small network of exceptionally well-funded universities, which are expected to generate strong international appeal. In 2022, a mass shooting occurred in the university , killing a woman and injuring three other people. The gunman then committed suicide. "I saw Heidelberg on a perfectly clear morning, with a pleasant air both cool and invigorating. The city, just so, with

9060-536: The Germans as Düppel , which consisted of strips of aluminium foil of a length designed to optimally reflect the German 50 cm (20 in) radar signals, jamming them. It was learned that 50 cm (20 in) was a standard wavelength of German defensive radars, which made Window an effective method of blinding all their defensive radar systems, following its introduction in Operation Gomorrah , raids on Hamburg beginning on 24/25 July 1943. Mayer described

9211-470: The Germans introduced a new system that worked on different principles, the Y-Gerät . Having guessed the nature of this system from a passing mention, the British had already deployed countermeasures that rendered the system useless almost as soon as it was used. The Germans eventually abandoned the entire concept of radio navigation over the UK, concluding the British would continue to successfully jam it. Before

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9362-465: The Germans might give up on the entire concept. British monitors soon started receiving intelligence from Enigma decrypts referring to a new device known as Y-Gerät , which was also sometimes referred to as Wotan . Jones had already concluded the Germans used code names that were too descriptive, so he asked a specialist in the German language and literature at Bletchley Park about the word Wotan . The specialist realised Wotan referred to Wōden ,

9513-516: The Netherlands. Knickebein was used in the early stages of the German night-bombing offensive and proved to be fairly effective, but the tactics for using the system in a widespread bombing effort were not yet developed, so much of the early German night bombing offensive was limited to area bombing. Efforts in Britain to block the Knickebein system required time to implement. British intelligence at

9664-534: The Old Town Campus. The sciences faculties and the medical school, including three large university hospitals, are located on the New Campus in the Neuenheimer Feld on the outskirts of Heidelberg. The so-called New University is regarded as the center of the Old Town Campus. It is situated at the Universitätsplatz (University Square) in the pedestrian zone, in direct vicinity to the University Library and to

9815-723: The RAF invested heavily in navigation training, equipping their aircraft with various devices, including an astrodome for taking a star fix and giving the navigator room to do his calculations in an illuminated workspace. This system was put to use as soon as the war began and was initially regarded as successful. In reality, the early bombing effort was a complete failure, with the majority of bombs landing miles from their intended targets. The Luftwaffe continued to research accurate night bombing against smaller targets. Not depending on celestial navigation, they invested their efforts in radio navigation systems. The Luftwaffe concentrated on developing

9966-599: The Reformed faith, Otto Henry, Elector Palatine , converted the university into a calvinistic institution. In 1563, the Heidelberg Catechism was created under collaboration of members of the university's divinity school. As the 16th century was passing, the late humanism stepped beside Calvinism as a predominant school of thought; and figures like Paul Schede , Jan Gruter , Martin Opitz , and Matthäus Merian taught at

10117-414: The Report. This was mainly because of service rivalry in Britain and the US and it was known that there was similar rivalry in Germany. The Oslo Report is concentrated on electronic technology; several big German companies were involved in such projects for all three armed forces and some scientists in these companies would have had knowledge of much of the research being conducted. The original typed report

10268-460: The Seminarium ad Carolum Borromæum, whose pupils were also registered in the university. After the suppression of the Jesuit Order, most of the schools they had conducted passed into the hands of the French Congregation of Lazarists in 1773. They deteriorated from that time forward. Meanwhile, the university itself continued to lose in prestige until the reign of the last elector Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine , who established new chairs for all

10419-461: The United States and had access to a wide range of information about electronics development in Germany, especially in the military sector. After Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, Mayer decided to divulge to the British as much as he could about military secrets to defeat the Nazi regime. He arranged a business trip to Scandinavia in late October 1939, arrived at his first scheduled stop, Oslo , Norway, on 30 October 1939 and checked into

10570-425: The aircraft were 120 km (75 mi) from the German coast using radar . He also gives the technical characteristics of the German early-warning radar systems, power , pulse duration , and range were described in some detail, along with counter-measures that could exploit the radar system's vulnerabilities. Mayer did not know the most important piece of information, the wavelength . Mayer mentioned April 1940 as

10721-400: The arts, the three higher faculties (theology, law, medicine) and the collegiate library grew. The acquisition of a box of records, which was housed in the Heiliggeistkirche , through the rector, Marsilius of Inghen , in 1388 contributed fundamentally to the development of the library. In the 16th century, Otto Henry, Elector Palatine , combined the miscellaneous book collections accrued since

10872-704: The assassination of the liberal German-Jewish Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau , he refused to half mast the national flag on the institute, thereby provoking its storming by communist students. After the establishment of Nazi Germany in 1933, the university supported Adolf Hitler and the Nazis like all other German universities at the time. It dismissed a large number of staff and students for political and racial reasons. Many dissident fellows had to emigrate and most Jewish and Communist professors who did not leave Germany were deported. At least two professors directly fell victim to Nazi terror. On 17 May 1933, members of

11023-523: The beam from Kleve, on 31.5 MHz. It subsequently located the cross beam from Stollberg (its origin was unknown prior to this flight). The radio operator and navigator were able to plot the path of the beams and discovered that they intersected above the Rolls-Royce engine factory at Derby , at that time the only factory producing the Merlin engine. It was subsequently realised that the argument over whether

11174-418: The beam slightly to the left and then slightly to the right of the centreline of the runway. The beams widened as they spread from the antennas, so there was an area directly off the runway approach where the two signals overlapped. The switch was timed so it spent longer on the right side of the antenna than the left. An aircraft approaching the airport would tune one of their radios to the Lorenz frequency. If

11325-553: The beams would bend around the Earth was entirely academic, as the transmitters were more or less in line-of-sight to high altitude bombers. British sceptics started regarding the system as proof that the German pilots were not as good as their own, who they believed could do without such systems. The Butt Report proved this to be wrong; aerial reconnaissance returned photographs of the RAF bombing raids, showing that they were rarely, if ever, anywhere near their targets. Efforts to block

11476-485: The beams would bend around the Earth. Jones saved the flight by pointing out that Churchill himself had ordered it, and he would make sure that the Prime Minister would learn who cancelled it. The crew were not told specifics, and were simply ordered to search for radio signals around 30 MHz having Lorenz characteristics and, if they found any, to determine their bearing. The flight took off and eventually flew into

11627-531: The best single report received from any source during the war.... Overall, of course, the contributions from other sources such as the Enigma decrypts , aerial photographs , and reports from the Resistance , outweighed the Oslo contribution, but these were all made from organizations involving many, sometimes thousands of individuals and operating throughout most of the war. The Oslo Report, we believed, had been written by

11778-467: The bomber's altitude and speed increased, the threat from ground-based defences was greatly reduced. Planners believed that " the bomber will always get through ". The problem with night bombing is that the same limitations in visibility meant the bomb crew would have a difficult time finding their targets, especially a blacked-out target at night. Only the largest targets, cities, could be attacked with any probability of success. To support this mission,

11929-418: The bombs dropped were placed within 100 yards (91 m) of the mid-line of the Weser beam, spread along it for a few hundred yards. This was the sort of accuracy that even daytime bombing could rarely achieve. The raid on Coventry with full support from other units dropping on their flares almost destroyed the city centre. X-Gerät proved more difficult to stop than Knickebein . Initial defences against

12080-654: The bombs kilometres short of the target. Setting up this false beam proved very difficult as the Germans, learning from their mistakes with Knickebein , did not switch the X-Gerät beams on until as late as possible, making it much more difficult to arrange the "false Elbe " in time. As the British slowly gained the upper hand in the Battle of the Beams, they started considering what the next German system would entail. Since Germany's current approaches had been rendered useless, an entirely new system would have to be developed. Jones believed that if they could defeat this system quickly,

12231-470: The centerline of a factory deep in England. Tipped off about the system's operation by pre-war military intelligence , the British responded by sending their own Morse code signals so that the aircraft crew believed they were always properly centred in the beam while they flew wildly off course. The Germans became convinced the British had somehow learned to bend radio signals. When the problem became widespread,

12382-412: The country to find the beams' location to be reported to nearby broadcasters. The low-power "dot signal" was initially transmitted essentially at random, so German navigators would hear two dots. This meant there were many equisignal areas, and no easy way to distinguish them except by comparing them with a known location. The British transmitters were later modified to send their dots at the same time as

12533-468: The cradle of Romanticism , and its old town and castle are among the most frequented tourist destinations in Germany. Its pedestrian zone is a shopping and night life magnet for the surrounding area and beyond. Heidelberg is about 40 minutes by train away from Frankfurt International Airport . Heidelberg University's facilities are, generally speaking, separated in two parts. The faculties and institutes of humanities and social sciences are embedded in

12684-410: The crew was on the left side of the centreline, they would hear a series of short tones followed by long pauses, meaning the aircraft was on the "dot" side of the antenna. Hearing the "dots", they would know that they had to veer to the right to fly down the centreline. If the crew was on the right side of the centerline, they would hear a series of long tones followed by short pauses, meaning the aircraft

12835-489: The deadline for installation of this radar. He described a similar system that was under development, that operated on a 50 cm (20 in) wavelength. The FuG 200 Hohentwiel ASV airborne maritime search radar and the FuG 202 Lichtenstein AI night fighter radar operated in the low-UHF band, 490 to 550 MHz frequencies of around 50 cm (20 in) wavelength. This section of

12986-472: The doctoral students coming from abroad. International students from some 130 countries account for more than 20 percent of the entire student body. The Great Schism of 1378 made it possible for Heidelberg, a relatively small city and capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate , to gain its own university. The Great Schism was initiated by the election of two popes after the death of Pope Gregory XI in

13137-545: The emperor and chief magistrate of the realm. This resulted in establishing a good reputation for the university and its professors. Due to the influence of Marsilius, the university initially taught the nominalism or via moderna . In 1412, both realism and the teachings of John Wycliffe were forbidden at the university but later, around 1454, the university decided that realism or via antique would also be taught, thus introducing two parallel ways ( ambae viae ). The transition from scholastic to humanistic culture

13288-430: The experimental unit Kampfgruppe 100 ( KGr 100) was given the task of using their X-Gerät equipment to guide other aircraft to the target. To do this, KGr 100 aircraft would attack as a small group first, dropping flares which other aircraft would then see and bomb visually. This is the first use of the pathfinder concept that the RAF improved to great effect against the Germans some three years later. The system

13439-487: The faculties, founded scientific institutes such as the Electoral Academy of Science, and transferred the school of political economy from Kaiserslautern to Heidelberg, where it was combined with the university as the faculty of political economy. He also founded an observatory in the neighboring city of Mannheim , where Jesuit Christian Mayer labored as director. In connection with the four hundredth anniversary of

13590-515: The first ones to allow women to study . In the Weimar Republic , the university was widely recognized as a center of democratic thinking, coined by professors like Karl Jaspers , Gustav Radbruch , Martin Dibelius and Alfred Weber . Unfortunately, there were also dark forces working within the university: Nazi physicist Philipp Lenard was head of the physics institute at the time. Following

13741-540: The following independent research institutes located in and around Heidelberg: The university employs more than 15,000 academic staff; most of them are physicians engaged in the University Hospital . As of 2008, the faculty encompasses 4,196 full-time staff, excluding visiting professors as well as graduate research and teaching assistants . 673 faculty members have been drawn from abroad. Heidelberg University also attracts more than 500 international scholars as visiting professors each academic year. The university enrols

13892-683: The foundation of the university with the princely library housed in Heidelberg Castle to form the Bibliotheca Palatina and made them publicly accessible in the galleries of the Heiliggeistkirche . Among these collections, inherited records of the Fuggers (Augsburg, Ulrich Fugger the Elder) wereof particular importance. The majority of the library holdings, which enjoyed great contemporary renown,

14043-410: The fuse, and the fact that the source made no effort, as far as it is known, to exploit the matter, together with the subsequent course of the war and our recent awakening with Knickebein , weigh heavily in favour of the second conclusion. It seems, then, that the source was reliable, and he was manifestly competent. In his 1989 book, Jones summarized the importance of the Oslo Report, It was probably

14194-432: The guidance beam at the point where the bombs should be dropped. The aerials could be rotated to make the beams from two transmitters cross over the target. The bombers would fly into the beam of one and ride it until they started hearing the tones from the other (on a second receiver). When the steady "on course" sound was heard from the second beam, they dropped their bombs. The first of these new Knickebein transmitters

14345-529: The institutes of natural sciences and medicine. Since 2021, all manuscripts of the Bibliotheca Palatina are accessible digitally online (848 German-language Palatina manuscripts, 2,030 Latin, 423 Greek, 267 Hebrew and 20 manuscripts in other languages). Their digitization was achieved through the cooperation of Heidelberg University Library and the Vatican Library . The university library expands its publication services: The Heidelberg document server heiDOK

14496-461: The integral university library system comprising approximately 6.2 million printed volumes. The University Library's holdings exceeded one million in 1934. Today, it comprises about 3.2 million books, about 500,000 other media such as microfilms and video tapes, as well as 6,000 printed scientific periodicals. Moreover, it has 6,900 manuscripts, 1,800 incunabula , 110,500 autographs , and a collection of old maps, paintings, and photographs. Furthermore,

14647-505: The latest German technical developments. To receive the report, he was to arrange for the usual announcement of the BBC World Service's German-language broadcast to be changed to " Hullo, hier ist London ". This was done and resulted in the delivery of a parcel a week later, which contained a typewritten document and a type of vacuum tube , a sensor for a proximity fuze for shells or bombs. The document became famous after its existence

14798-529: The main administration buildings. The New University was officially opened in 1931. Its erection was largely financed by donations of wealthy American families, in line with a fundraising campaign of Jacob Gould Schurman , an alumnus of Heidelberg University and former United States Ambassador to Germany . It houses the new assembly hall, the largest lecture halls, and a number of smaller seminar rooms, mostly used by faculties of humanities and social sciences. Education in humanities and social sciences takes place to

14949-592: The main building of the old campus. Visitors are able to view the Great Hall (when not in use), and the former "student jail". The Rectorate is the ' executive body ' of the university, headed by rector Bernhard Eitel . The rectorate consists of the chancellor , Holger Schroeter , who is the head of the central administration and responsible for the university's budgeting, and three pro-rectors, who are responsible for international relations, teaching and communication, and research and structure respectively. The Senate

15100-475: The main scenes of the left-wing student protests in Germany. In 1975, a massive police force arrested the entire student parliament AStA . Shortly thereafter, the building of the Collegium Academicum, a progressive college in immediate vicinity to the university's main grounds, was stormed by over 700 police officers and closed once and for all. On the outskirts of the city, in the Neuenheimer Feld area,

15251-447: The mine could no longer detect them. The Allies were also able to sweep the mines by generating a suitable magnetic field to trip the mine. The final section of the report described how mechanical fuzes for artillery shells were being discontinued in favour of electrical fuzes and mentioned that bombs already had electrical fuzes. Mayer described the working of bomb fuzes and described electrical time fuzes. He also mentioned an idea for

15402-441: The modified jammers were able to successfully disrupt a raid on Birmingham on 19 November. X-Gerät was eventually defeated in another manner, by way of a "false Elbe " which was set up to cross the 'Weser' guide beam at a mere 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) after the Oder beam — much earlier than the expected 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). Since the final stages of the release were automatic, the clock would reverse prematurely and drop

15553-515: The most modern of the university libraries, and a cafe (rather than the full cafeteria present in the other campuses). Since 2019, the Bergheim Campus has also become the location of the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies of the Heidelberg University. The University Library is the main library of the university. Together with the branch libraries, serving the faculties and institutes, it forms

15704-597: The name of Ruprecht I . Karl Friedrich divided the university into five faculties and placed himself at its head as rector, as did also his successors. During this decade, Romanticism found expression in Heidelberg through Clemens Brentano , Achim von Arnim , Ludwig Tieck , Joseph Görres , and Joseph von Eichendorff , and there went forth a revival of the German Middle Ages in speech, poetry, and art. The German Students Association exerted great influence, which

15855-473: The operating principle based on the name Wotan was entirely by luck. Later documents showed that the original X-Gerät was known as Wotan I, and the Y-Gerät as Wotan II. Had he known the name was also associated with X-Gerät it was unlikely he would have concluded the system used a single beam. The British were ready for this system even before it was used. By chance, the Germans had chosen the operating frequency of

16006-509: The ordinary of medicine through a papal dispensation. In 1553, Pope Julius III sanctioned the allotment of ecclesiastical benefices to secular professors. Martin Luther 's disputation at Heidelberg in April 1518 made a lasting impact, and his adherents among the masters and scholars soon became leading Reformationists in Southwest Germany. With the Electorate of the Palatinate turn to

16157-490: The possibility of bombing beams to Churchill, he ordered further investigation. The British codenamed the system Headache. Many in the Air Ministry did not believe that the system was in use. Frederick Lindemann , leading scientific adviser to the government, argued that any such system would not be able to follow the curvature of the Earth, although T. S. Eckersley of the Marconi company had said it could. Eckersley's assertion

16308-467: The press and it was widely publicized. Jones revealed some of the Report's contents, holding back many details to test anyone claiming authorship but neither Henry Cobden Turner nor Mayer heard of the talk at the time. By chance Turner and Jones were on the same voyage of the RMS ; Queen Mary in 1953 and one evening, they sat at the same dinner table. They found much in common and Jones invited Turner to

16459-432: The reconstruction of the university was realized rather quickly. With the foundation of the Collegium Academicum, Heidelberg University became the home of Germany's first and, until today, only self-governed student hall. Newly laid statutes obliged the university to "The Living Spirit of Truth, Justice and Humanity". During the 1960s and 1970s, the university grew dramatically in size. At this time, it developed into one of

16610-412: The release point. The Oder beam intersected Weser 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) before the release point, or 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) before Elbe . Rhine did not require the same precision and was approximately 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) before the release point. The beams' width added a small error to the intersection coordinates, on the order of tens to hundreds of meters. As the bomber followed

16761-507: The report revealed Mayer's depth of knowledge of radar technology. The operational radar principle he revealed – a short burst of transmitted energy, measuring the time-of-flight and calculating range from it – was known by the British and was already used in the Chain Home early warning radar. Revealing the details of the system under development allowed the British to invent a simple countermeasure they called Window , already known to

16912-412: The report. Some of the information Mayer heard was second-hand and later proved to be incorrect. Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber production levels are stated to be probably 5,000 per month, with a total of over 25,000–30,000 predicted to be produced by April 1940. This turned out to be an exaggeration of production levels and total production. The report states that the German navy's first aircraft carrier

17063-657: The same year. One successor resided in Avignon (elected by the French) and the other in Rome (elected by the Italian cardinals). The German secular and spiritual leaders voiced their support for the successor in Rome, which had far-reaching consequences for the German students and teachers in Paris: they lost their stipends and had to leave. Rupert I recognized the opportunity and initiated talks with

17214-435: The signal was re-transmitted at low power, not powerful enough for the Germans to realise what was happening, but enough to spoil the accuracy of the system. Over subsequent nights, the transmitter power was gradually increased. As Y-Gerät ' s use went on, the aircrew accused the ground station of sending bad signals and the ground station alleged the aircraft had loose connections. The whole scheme appealed to Jones as he

17365-486: The simple switching of two of the reflector elements to alter the beam directions very marginally. The beam angles were so dramatically reduced that it was only a few tens of yards wide over the target. It was the shape of the aerials that gave the system its code name, Knickebein , which means "crooked leg", although the word is also the name of a magical raven in Germanic mythology . For the required range, transmitted power

17516-533: The size of the university. In a competitive selection process, the DFG selects the best research projects from researchers at universities and research institutes and finances them. The ranking is thus regarded as an indicator of the quality of research. In the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (NTU ranking) 2019, which measures the research outputs of universities, Heidelberg University

17667-452: The system were deployed in a similar fashion to Knickebein in an attempt to disrupt the Coventry raid but proved to be a failure. Although Jones had correctly guessed the beam layout (and acknowledges it was only a guess), the modulation frequency had been measured incorrectly as 1,500 Hz, but was in fact 2,000 Hz. At the time it was believed that this would not make any difference, as

17818-452: The time; even by 1943, British rocket developers were focused on solid fuels and thinking in diameters of around 76 mm (3 in). A solid fuel rocket of more than ten times this diameter would have caused a credibility gap , which did in fact happen when more information later became available to British intelligence. With hindsight, the description can be recognised as the A8 rocket, which had

17969-413: The tones were close enough that an operator would have a hard time distinguishing them in a noisy aircraft. The mystery was eventually revealed after an X-Gerät -equipped Heinkel He 111 crashed on 6 November 1940 on the English coast at West Bay , Bridport. Although the aircraft sank during the recovery operation, the waterlogged X-Gerät equipment was recovered. On examination, it was learned that

18120-471: The totality of its ambiance is, one might say, something ideal." Heidelberg is a city with approximately 140,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the Rhine Neckar Triangle , a European metropolitan area with approximately 2.4 million people living there, comprising the neighboring cities of Heidelberg , Mannheim , Ludwigshafen , and a number of smaller towns in the perimeter. Heidelberg is known as

18271-430: The transit time of the signal, and hence the distance to the aircraft. Coupled with the direction of the beam (adjusted for a maximum return signal), the bomber's position could be established with considerable accuracy. The bombers did not have to track the beam, instead the ground controllers could calculate it and then give radio instructions to the pilot to correct the flight path. Jones later learned that his guess on

18422-508: The troops of King Louis XIV , who destroyed Heidelberg in 1693 almost completely. As a consequence of the late Counter-Reformation , the university lost its Protestant character, and was channeled by Jesuits . From 1712 to 1728, the Old University was constructed at University Square, then known as Domus Wilhelmina. Through the efforts of the Jesuits a preparatory seminary was established,

18573-409: The two beams they are flying in. This is normally accomplished by sending Morse code signals into the two beams, to identify right and left. For bombing, the Luftwaffe built huge versions of the antennas to provide much greater accuracy at long range, named Knickebein and X-Gerät . These were used during the early stages of " The Blitz " with great effect, in one case laying a strip of bombs down

18724-474: The university awarded 994 PhD degrees . In the 2025 edition of the QS World University Rankings , Heidelberg ranked 84th globally and 3rd in Germany. According to the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings , the university was ranked 47th in the world and held the position as the 3rd best university in the country. Moreover, in the 2023 ARWU World Rankings , Heidelberg secured

18875-544: The university faculty and students took part in book burnings at Universitätsplatz ("University Square") and Heidelberg eventually became infamous as a NSDAP university. The inscription above the main entrance of the New University was changed from "The Living Spirit" to "The German Spirit", and many professors paid homage to the new motto. The university was involved in Nazi eugenics : forced sterilizations were carried out at

19026-469: The university, the elector approved a revised statute book that several professors had been commissioned to prepare. The financial affairs of the university, its receipts and expenditures, were put in order. At that time, the number of students varied from 300 to 400; in the jubilee year, 133 matriculated. As a consequence of the disturbances caused by the French Revolution , and particularly because of

19177-569: The university. It attracted scholars from all over the continent and developed into a cultural and academic center. However, with the beginning of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, the intellectual and fiscal wealth of the university declined. In 1622, the then-world-famous Bibliotheca Palatina (the library of the university) was stolen from the University Cathedral and taken to Rome. The reconstruction efforts thereafter were defeated by

19328-578: The various university hospitals. The Faculty of Physics and Astronomy is not located on either campus, but on the Philosophers' Walk , separated from the Old Town by the River Neckar, and some 2 km (1.2 mi) away from the New Campus. It also maintains observatory facilities on the Königstuhl Mountain . The university maintains a botanical garden at Neuenheimer Feld. The Bergheim Campus

19479-431: The way in which the identity was revealed to me was so extraordinary that it may well not be credited. In any event, it belongs to a later period, and the denouement must wait until then. Mayer died in 1980 without being publicly acknowledged as the author. Jones' sequel, published in 1989, revealed the author's identity. Notes Bibliography University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University , officially

19630-473: The women's clinic and the psychiatric clinic, then directed by Carl Schneider , was involved in Action T4 Euthanasia program. The heads of the university helped in the deportation of Jewish men, women and children directly to the gas chambers. After the end of World War II, the university underwent an extensive denazification . Since Heidelberg was spared from destruction during World War II,

19781-452: Was a "worthwhile point of attack" for bombers. Mayer noted during the invasion of Poland in 1939, Polish bunkers were attacked using smoke shells which forced their crews to withdraw deeper into the bunkers, following which soldiers armed with flamethrowers attacked under cover of the smoke. Mayer mentions that the British air raid on Wilhelmshaven in September 1939 was detected while

19932-438: Was a natural practical joker, and remarked that he was able to play one of the largest practical jokes with virtually any national resource that he required. The gradually increasing power conditioned the Germans such they did not realise that the system was being interfered with, but believed that it suffered several inherent defects. Eventually, as the power was increased enough, the whole Y-Gerät system started to ring with all

20083-487: Was also laid down in Kiel in 1938 with a launch date planned for July 1940, possibly to be named as Peter Strasser . Work on this second carrier was halted in September 1939 and she was broken up the following year. It is possible that Mayer misinterpreted the construction of the large naval tanker Franken for this second aircraft carrier and wanted to alert the Allies to this development. The naval tanker (launched on 8 March 1939)

20234-481: Was at first patriotic and later political. After Romanticism had eventually died out, Heidelberg became a center of Liberalism and the movement in favor of German national unity. The historians Friedrich Christoph Schlosser and Georg Gottfried Gervinus were the guides of the nation in political history . The modern scientific schools of medicine and natural science , particularly astronomy , were models in point of construction and equipment, and Heidelberg University

20385-462: Was being built next to the Graf Zeppelin , itself still under construction. This section of the report described remote-controlled gliders with a 3 m (9.8 ft) wingspan and 3 m (9.8 ft) long, carrying an explosive charge, fitted with an altimeter intended to maintain them at an altitude of 3 m (9.8 ft) above the water, the horizontal stage of their flight to be powered by

20536-462: Was described as having a magnetic pistol designed to detect the deviations in the Earth's magnetic field caused by a ship's metal hull and explode beneath its keel. Mayer described the principle of the fuze and suggested that it could be defended against by generating a suitable magnetic field. The second type was deployed by the Germans as a mine. The Allies defeated it by degaussing their ships so that

20687-554: Was effected by the chancellor and bishop Johann von Dalberg in the late 15th century. Humanism was represented at Heidelberg University particularly by the founder of the older German Humanistic School Rudolph Agricola , Conrad Celtes , Jakob Wimpfeling , and Johann Reuchlin . Æneas Silvius Piccolomini was chancellor of the university in his capacity as provost of Worms , and later always favored it with his friendship and good-will as Pope Pius II . In 1482, Pope Sixtus IV permitted laymen and married men to be appointed professors in

20838-535: Was elected first rector of the university. The rector seal motto was semper apertus —i.e., "the book of learning is always open." The university grew quickly and in March 1390, 185 students were enrolled at the university. Between 1414 and 1418, theology and jurisprudence professors of the university took part in the Council of Constance and acted as counselors for Louis III , who attended this council as representative of

20989-468: Was especially noted for its influential law school. The university as a whole became the role model for the transformation of American liberal arts colleges into research universities , in particular for the then-newly established Johns Hopkins University . Heidelberg's professors were important supporters of the Vormärz revolution and many of them were members of the first freely elected German parliament,

21140-499: Was eventually demonstrated after Churchill ordered a flight to try to detect the beams. The RAF lacked equipment capable of detecting 30–33 MHz Lorenz signals, so they purchased an American Hallicrafters S-27 amateur radio receiver from a shop in Lisle Street, London. The receiver was fitted into an Avro Anson and operated by a member of the Y Service . The flight was nearly cancelled when Eckersley withdrew his assertion that

21291-408: Was first tested on 20 December 1939 when a bomber from KGr 100 flown by Oberleutnant Hermann Schmidt flew over London at 7,000m (23,000 ft). X-Gerät was used effectively in a series of raids known to the Germans as Moonlight Sonata, against Coventry , Wolverhampton and Birmingham . In the raid on Birmingham only KGr 100 was used and British post-raid analysis showed that the vast majority of

21442-415: Was in the process of being widely deployed on large civilian and military aircraft. The Lorenz system worked by feeding a special three-element antenna system with a modulated radio signal. The signal was fed to the centre dipole , which had a slightly longer reflector element on either side set slightly back. A switch rapidly alternated the opened midpoint connection of each reflector in turn, sending

21593-501: Was increased considerably. The Knickebein receivers were disguised as a standard blind landing receiver system, consisting apparently of the EBL-1 and the EBL-2 receivers. The beam from a single transmitter would guide the bombers towards the target, but could not tell them when they were over it. To add this ranging feature, a second transmitter similar to the first was set up so its beam crossed

21744-466: Was looted during the Thirty Years' War , transported to Rome and was gifted to Pope Gregory XV by the victorious Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria in 1622. After the secularization in 1804, the holdings of the monasteries of Salem and Petershausen formed the foundation of the reconstruction of the library collection in the 19th century. In 1816, 847 German-language manuscripts from the Bibliotheca Palatina returned to Heidelberg. As part of an exchange,

21895-461: Was modelled after the University of Paris and included four faculties: philosophy, theology, jurisprudence , and medicine. On 18 October 1386 a special Pontifical High Mass in the Heiliggeistkirche was the ceremony that established the university. On 19 October 1386 the first lecture was held, making Heidelberg the oldest university in Germany . In November 1386, Marsilius of Inghen

22046-673: Was no longer feasible. Mayer then returned to Germany; Mayer was arrested for political offenses by the Gestapo in 1943 and was imprisoned at Dachau and other Nazi concentration camps until the war ended, the Nazis never knew of the Oslo Report. On 4 November 1939, Captain Hector Boyes , the Naval Attaché at the British Embassy in Oslo, received an anonymous letter offering him a secret report on

22197-436: Was on the "dash" side of the antenna. Hearing the "dashes", they would know that they had to veer to the left to fly down the centreline. In the centre, the radio would receive both signals, where the dots filled in the gaps in the dashes and produced a continual signal, the so-called "equisignal". Flying in the known direction of the runway and keeping the equisignal on the radio, Lorenz-equipped crews could guide an aircraft down

22348-504: Was revealed in 1947 and would go down in history as the "Oslo Report". Boyes quickly appreciated the Report's potential importance and had a member of the embassy staff make a translation which he forwarded to MI6 in London along with the original. The Oslo Report was received with indifference or even disbelief by British Intelligence, with the notable exception of Dr. R. V. Jones , a young Ph.D. physicist who had recently been put in charge of

22499-611: Was set up in 1939 on Stollberg hill in Nordfriesland near the border with Denmark ; at Kleve (Cleves) near the Dutch border, almost the most westerly point in Germany, and at Lörrach near the border with France and Switzerland in south-western Germany. Following the fall of France in June 1940, additional transmitters were installed on the French coast. Stations were also constructed in Norway and

22650-669: Was seven pages long. It was retyped, with a number of carbon copies being made for distribution. No specimen of the original translation is known and the German version held by the Imperial War Museum is one of the carbon copies and lacks the sketches that were apparently included in Mayer's original. A typed copy in German can also be found in the Public Record Office , while the report has been published twice in English translation. The section headings given here correspond to those in

22801-413: Was used in the report, which can also be translated to mean artillery shell but the German text clearly states that a rocket was meant. This is also clear from the remark that the projectile is highly unstable when fired, while artillery shells would be spin-stabilized or fin-stabilized in the case of mortar projectiles. The mentioned size of 80 cm (31.5 in)-calibre was seen as a curious item at

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