Gerhard W. Goetze

Gerhard Wilhelm Goetze (June 19, 1930 – January 17, 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.

Gerhard W. Goetze was born in Niederdünzebach near Eschwege, Hessen, Germany on June 19, 1930, to Walter Kurt Götze, a 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 to 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 to 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.

In 1954, Gerhard married Lisa Herta Kohlus of Eschwege.

They had five children, two born in the convent of Vincent de Paul in Eschwege, Germany; Regina Karin and Martin Gerhard and three children born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, US; Frank Walter, Arleen Susan and Thomas Wilhelm.

Their marriage ended in divorce.

He had a daughter with his second wife.

Goetze traveled from Germany to New York in January 1959 with his pregnant wife and two children under the sponsorship of the United States Department of the Army in the national interest.

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 on night vision was initially classified for the Department of Defense.

It was later declassified by the federal government after use along the South Vietnam frontier and for use by NASA and police anti-crime measures.

In 1964, he moved with his wife and five 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.

Goetze was one of the early members (1964) of the Eschwege Luftsportverrein (local glider soaring club).

Goetze became a US citizen on July 4, 1967, in Ithaca, New York.

At that time, he changed his name from Götze to Goetze.

They lived for several months in the Alamac Hotel on Broadway and West 71st Street in New York City until employment was found.

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 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 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.

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.

Goetze's passion in life was for gliding.

He began his interest at the Blaue Kuppe in the countryside of the Werra-Meißner area.