Gerhard W. Goetze

Gerhard Wilhelm Goetze (19 June 1930 – 17 January 2007) was a German-born Ph.D. researcher and inventor in Atomic physics. He was primarily known for his work on the Moon-to-Earth Apollo TV camera making live broadcast in both brilliant sunlight and pitch darkness possible. Goetze discovered the Secondary Electron Conduction (SEC) effect which amplified light through high-speed electrons deposited in thin film storage targets. The SEC tube was additionally used in ground-based astronomy, inspection of integrated circuits, electron-microscope-based biological tissue study, security, and night vision. Goetze received ten patents for his inventions.
The images of the first man on the Moon are recorded through the work of Goetze.
In 1973 Goetze received a Franklin Institute Award, the Longstreth Medal established in 1890, for the conception and development of the SEC Tube, which played an important role in television, night surveillance and ultraviolet astronomical observations.
In 1984 Goetze was awarded the Rudolf-Diesel-Medaille, an award by the German Institute for Inventions, for the applications of the Secondary Electron Conduction tube in industry.
Biography.
Early life and education.
Gerhard W Goetze was born in Niederdünzebach near Eschwege, Hessen, Germany on June 19, 1930 to the parents of Walter Kurt Götze, businessman, and Anna Katherine Sieland. He attended the local primary school until his father was transferred to Bartenstein, near Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany to work at the local Volksschule (primary school).
Goetze attended the Volksschule from 1936-1944.
Goetze, along with his mother and baby sister, fled Bartenstein, now named Bartoszyce, on the last train on January 22, 1945 during the Evacuation of East Prussia. They made their way back to the family home in Niederdünzebach. Gerhard attended the Gymnasium or college preparatory school, the Friedrich-Wilhelm Schule in Eschwege from 1946-1949 where he received his Abitur diploma.
From 1949 to 1958 Goetze studied and taught physics at the University of Marburg. In 1951, he became a member of one of the oldest academic fraternities, the German Student Corps, Saxonia founded in 1886, with the motto "In Treue Fest" or In Loyalty Firm.
His concentration in Nuclear physics led to his doctoral thesis in "Zerfallsschema und Beta-Spektrum des MsTh1 (Ra228)" Disintegration Schematic and Beta Spectrum of Mesothorium (Isotopes of radium). Goetze later found Electrons to be more interesting and continued his work in atomic physics.
Marriage and children.
In 1954, Gerhard married Lisa Herta Kohlus of Eschwege. They had 5 children, 2 born in the convent of Vincent de Paul in Eschwege, Germany; Regina Karin and Martin Gerhard and 3 children born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, USA; Frank Walter, Arleen Susan and Thomas Wilhelm. Their marriage ended in divorce.
He had a daughter with his second wife.
Emigration to the US.
Goetze traveled from Germany to New York in January 1959 with his pregnant wife and 2 children under the sponsorship of the United States Department of the Army in the national interest. They lived for several months in the Alamac Hotel on Broadway and West 71st Street in New York City until employment was found.
In the summer of 1959 the family moved to Monroeville, Pennsylvania where Goetze worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Research and Development Laboratories in Pittsburgh. His early research was initially classified on Night vision for the Department of Defense. It was later declassified by the federal government after use along the South Vietnam Frontier for use by NASA and police anti-crime measures.
In 1964, he moved with his wife and 5 children to Elmira, New York to continue his work at the Westinghouse Cathode Ray Tube facility in nearby Horseheads, New York. As operations manager, Goetze grew the department from a team of six to more than 170 scientists and staff. His work through Westinghouse was an integral part of the NASA space program.
Gerhard Wilhelm Goetze became a USA citizen on July 4, 1967 in Ithaca, New York. At that time, he changed his name from Götze to Goetze.
Employment at Westinghouse.
1959-1964 – Scientific researcher and senior physicist, Westinghouse Research and Development Laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1964-1969 – Operations Manager of the Image Tube Department at Westinghouse, Horseheads, New York.
1969 – Academic Sabbatical to attend the Sloan Business School, MIT, Massachusetts, USA.
1969-1983 – Various positions with Westinghouse International, Frankfurt, Germany with his last position as Director of Electronic Components in Europe.
Other positions.
1965-1969 – Named to the Defense Advisory Group on Electronic Devices, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
1966 – Senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
1970 – Civilian Consultant to the Department of Defense as a member of the Advisory Group on Electronic Devices.
1970 – Adjunct professor for electrical engineering at University of Rhode Island.
1973 – Franklin Institute – elected as Life Fellow membership.
Business development in Germany.
In 1981 Goetze headed Fanal Elektric, an electronic components manufacturer in Germany, who sold 95% of its stock shares to Westinghouse to secure the American Market. In 1989, Goetze along with other investors, purchased Fanal Elektric from Westinghouse and grew Fanal with 3 other firms; Hundt & Weber, Maihak Aktiengesellschaft and Fanalmatic GmbH into an international company under Goetze and Scheffler Group, GmbH. His firms employed over 1,000 people. The Goetze and Scheffler Group suffered a severe decline in sales with the financial catastrophe of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the 1990s. The G&S Group ultimately closed as a business.
Personal life and soaring.
Goetze's passion in life was for gliding. He began his interest at the Blaue Kuppe in the countryside of the Werra-Meißner area. Goetze was one of the early members (1964) of the Eschwege Luftsportverrein (local glider soaring club).
While living in Elmira, New York, Goetze spent many weekends with his family at the Harris Hill Soaring Club pursuing his hobby as a sailplane pilot. In 1969 Goetze traveled to Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado for the final qualifying test for the prestigious 3 Diamond Badge in gliding from the FAI Gliding Commission. His airplane towed him to 2,000 feet above ground level and from there using only airwave Lift, soared to an altitude of 28,000 feet (8,534 meters.) 
Goetze was a long-time member of the Soaring Society of America(SSA).
Goetze was also a commercial pilot.
He continued his joy for flying his entire life. His last aircraft, a 1960 single engine Cessna 182 Skylane was flown in 2007 after his death by his two sons, Frank, senior pilot for FedEx and Thomas, mechanical engineer, across the Atlantic Ocean over 10 days and 40 flight hours from Kassel Airport, Germany to Beaver County Airport, Pennsylvania via Denmark, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Canada.
Death.
Goetze died on January 17, 2007 in Bad Zwesten, Germany at the age of 76 after suffering a severe stroke a month earlier.
He is buried in the local cemetery in his home village in Niederdünzebach (Eschwege), Germany.
Scientific career, Westinghouse and Department of Defense.
In October 1960 at the Fifth International Congress on High Speed Photography, A. Anderson, manager of the applied physics department of Westinghouse Research Laboratories stated that, "a new electronic tube, so sensitive it can "see" individual particles of light, has enabled Westinghouse scientists to photograph the faint tracks of Cosmic ray as they move through solid crystal at speeds near the velocity of light." The Astracon, light amplifier tube, was brought to practical application by Goetze. His research was supported in part by the United States Atomic Energy Commission and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
In the early 1960s in the Pittsburgh research laboratories the SEC (Secondary Electron Conduction) effect was discovered by Goetze. This was developed for the Department of Defense (DoD) for Night vision in Vietnam. It had the capability to produce clear images in motion at low light levels without motion distortion.
The SEC tube had DoD highly top secret security classification but was the only device that could meet the Apollo camera mission requirements to operate in both lunar day and night. The DoD was asked to allow Westinghouse the use of the SEC tube for the Apollo TV Camera program. The task to develop this unique SEC tube was headed by Goetze at the Westinghouse Tube Division in Elmira, New York.
The SEC tube was used to build a camera to transmit live images from the moon to earth on Apollo 11. The tube was also employed in science in electron microscope biological tissue study; ground based astronomy, material testing and inspection of integral circuits in industry, and security and police.
The SEC tube was used on the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory as the main sensor, on Apollo 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, in the ATM Satellites as well as the OSO-H and SAS-D space projects.
The Apollo 12 lunar camera sustained damage when it was inadvertently pointed directly towards the Sun damaging its sensor. .
In 1969 Westinghouse was awarded the contract for the TV Image Tube for the Viking program of 1972. Goetze oversaw the development of the Mars camera.
The SEC tube was awarded the "Most Meritorious Patent Award" at Westinghouse.
Lunar Camera Tube Program Chronology.
September 1963 – First contact with NASA/Houston and Grumman Aircraft to propose use of SEC tube for television transmission from LEM
May 1964- Formal proposal for a lunar Television Camera made to the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, by the Westinghouse Aerospace and Electronic Tube Division
September 1964 - Camera tube contract let by NASA
September 1964 - First tube start with high-power heater (WX-30293)
September 1964 - First tube start with low-power heater (WX-31034)
May 1965 – First flight candidate delivered to Westinghouse Aerospace Division
July 1966 – First tube start on lunar Camera Tube Program
May 1969 - Apollo 10 crew send first color television pictures from outer space to Earth
July 1969 – Television pictures of man's first steps on the Moon. Through joint efforts, one quarter of the population of the Earth was able to see the first steps of the first men on the Moon. "Life" magazine estimated that 600 million people watched the first step on the Moon by Armstrong. "People from 47 countries watched the astronauts...Images of the flag-planting ceremony passed through the fixed-focus lens of the camera, were transformed into electrical impulses, amplified a hundred times and beamed directly to earth." 
The WX-31034 Lunar Camera Tube remains at Tranquility Base on Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) on the Moon's surface.
Awards and honors.
1966 – Goetze's lunar camera tube was named one of the 100 most outstanding scientific and technical achievements by Industrial Research Magazine
1969 – Received his Diamond C International Award from the Soaring Society of America (SSA).
1973 – Franklin Institute Award, Longstreth Medal for the conception and development of the Secondary Electron Conduction Tube.
1984 – Rudolf Diesel Medal Award 