Manfred von Ardenne - Lord of television

In 1931, the Hamburg inventor Manfred von Ardenne presented the first technology for electronic television transmission at the IFA in Berlin. His invention paves the way for television to become a mass medium and conquers the world.

by Cornelius Kob

Lots of fives and fours, good grades only in physics and mathematics:School wasn't Manfred von Ardenne's strong point. Perhaps it was due to the various private tutors who initially taught him. Born in Hamburg on January 20, 1907, Ardenne, son of Baron Egmont von Ardenne, grew up in a wealthy family. Later the family moves first to Rendsburg, then to Berlin. Ardenne is fascinated by radio technology and already as a teenager builds his own radio receiver. At the age of 16 he received his first patent - one of more than 600 that he will receive in his life. In 1923 he left school before graduating from high school and developed an amplifier tube for Loewe that enabled the company to produce inexpensive radio receivers.

Necessity makes Manfred von Ardenne inventive

With the money from this invention and the patents, Ardenne buys a villa in Berlin - with a large laboratory, of course. However, the money is not enough. He has to take out additional loans and, at the age of 21, is heavily in debt. But necessity is the mother of invention:there is the radio, there is the cinema, why shouldn't you be able to transmit images wirelessly? His visit to the International Consumer Electronics Fair (IFA) in 1928 was particularly motivating. The experimental devices presented by the Hungarian Dénes von Mihály with a Nipkow disk - a purely mechanically controlled process for transmitting images - appear "unusable" to him.

Braun tube crucial for Ardenne's apparatus

There's a better way, says Ardenne confidently, and sets about developing an electronically controlled process. At the same time, the Reichspost in Berlin started the first test television transmissions with the mechanical system from 1929. Manfred von Ardenne, on the other hand, uses the Braun tube for his apparatus - that is the decisive factor in his invention. In 1930, in his laboratory in Berlin-Lichterfelde, the first transmission unit was created almost overnight from various amplifier tubes and other parts. On August 22, 1931, his "Flying Spot Scanner" (light spot scanner) is presented at the IFA. Even the New York Times reported the invention on the front page.

Ardennes electronic television conquers the world

In fact, the transmission is better with this system - the picture is larger, has a higher resolution and is brighter. In addition, it is cheaper to produce than the complex mechanical controls. The mechanical process with the Nipkow disk, which had already been introduced, was gradually being replaced by electronic television. The 1936 Olympic Games are the final breakthrough for the new technology. The Second World War interrupted further development, but in the 1950s television conquered the world.

The Second World War and the time in the GDR

At the end of the 1930s, Ardenne was the first to succeed in building a working scanning electron microscope. With this, the smallest molecular structures can be made visible for the first time. Through his development of amplifier tubes, he is also significantly involved in the further development of radar in Germany.

After the discovery of nuclear fission by Otto Hahn and Fritz Straßmann, Ardenne turned to atomic research. He is supported by the Reich government. This is also the reason why after the war he was assigned to Soviet service together with other German researchers. He is involved in the construction of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb and himself believes that working with the Soviets is the right thing to do. Because only mutual deterrence, the "balance of terror", can prevent the outbreak of a new, devastating world war.

It was not until 1955 that he returned to Germany. In Dresden he founds the only private institute in the GDR. He has a special status there because he came back from the Soviet Union highly decorated and with the highest level of support.

From physics to medicine

In the following decade, Ardenne is mainly concerned with nuclear physics and medical electronics. From his own experience after a serious illness, he developed the oxygen multi-step therapy in the early 1970s - a procedure in which the patient is supplied with pure oxygen at certain intervals and in certain quantities. This procedure is said to have a young-preserving effect and even a healing function for cancer.

Although controversial, Ardenne also found customers in the wealthy ranks of the elderly politbureaucracy. It is still used today, especially in alternative medicine. Under Erich Honecker, the relationship with the GDR leadership became more problematic. Again and again the SED tries to strengthen the influence of the state on the private institute.

Manfred of Ardenne:A servant of many masters

Manfred von Ardenne continued to work in his institute on the Weißer Hirsch in Dresden until old age. He died on May 26, 1997 at the age of 90 in Dresden. After his death, the institute is divided into three successor institutions, which are primarily dedicated to solar technology, system technology and the further development of his cancer multi-step therapy.

Ardenne's role in the various dictatorial systems was always a source of criticism. Whether under the Nazi regime, in the Soviet Union or in the GDR - Ardenne always knew how to skilfully obtain personal or research-related advantages. Although he was never directly politically involved, as a researcher and inventor he was always an important part of the respective political system.