Fricke, Hugo

Biography

Hugo Fricke was born August 15, 1892 in Aarhus, Denmark. His parents were Captain Gunnar C. Fricke and Hedevig Kampfner. He graduated from Cathedral School, Aarhus, Denkar in 1910 and later received his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

In his time at the University of Copenhagen, he assisted Niels Bohr with his recently conceived atomic theory. In 1918 he moved to the University of Lund where he worked with Manne Siegbahn on x-ray spectroscopy. In 1919, Fricke moved to the United States, where he was an American Scandinavian Fellow at Columbia University. Fricke then worked at Harvard University until 1921. At Harvard he collaborated with Theodore Lyman, who was the discoverer of the 585 A helium resonance line. He also became interested in the application of physics to biological and medical problems. In 1921, George Crile invited Hugo Fricke to organize and be head of a biophysical laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, where he continued his research until 1928.

In 1925, Fricke founded Victoreen Instrument Company, which would be renamed to CVLN Corp. by 1972. The Victoreen Instrument Company commercially produced an air-equivalent x-ray dosimeter, called the "Victoreen Dosimeter," which was used in the emerging nuclear industry.

Charles Davenport recruited Fricke in 1928 as the first Full-time investigator at The Biological Laboratory where he worked until 1955. He was the director of the Walter B. James Laboratory for biophysics until the late 1930's when, due to lack of support for these fundamental studies, research in radiation chemistry at W.B. James Laboratory was terminated.

During his career at the Biological Laboratory, Fricke began his studies on the radiation chemistry of dilute aqueous systems. He also devised new x-ray irradiation sources and standardized techniques of chemical dosimetry, purification of water and micro gas analysis. Fricke studied stability of irradiated water, the radiation-induced chain decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, and the role of 02 and pH in radiation chemistry.

In 1935, he received a $500 grant from the National Research Council, Division of Biology and Agriculture, Committee on Radiation, to study "Wavelength Dependence of Genetic Effects ofX-Rays." This was followed in 1936 with another grant from the National Research Council, Division of Biology and Agriculture, Committee on Radiation, for "Investigations of the Relative Stability to X-Rays of Various Atomic Groups of Biochemical Interest."

Hugo Fricke left The Biological Laboratory in 1955 to work at the Argonne National Laboratory, Chemistry Division in Lemont, Illinois where he was a research associate and consultant. In 1966, Fricke was a consultant to the Danish Atomic Energy Commission Laboratory in Riso, Denmark.

At the International Conference on Radiation Chemistry held at the Argonne National Laboratory in 1968, Hugo Fricke was presented with a citation for his research. In 1971, Hugo Fricke was the first recipient of the Weiss Medal, from the British Association for Radiation Research. He was a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Radiation Research Society.

He married the former Dorothy Newman in 1949. Hugo Fricke died in 1972.

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