Fritz Reiche and German Refugee Scientists
Abstract
Fritz Reiche (1883-1969) was a distinguished theoretical physicist, a student and colleague of Wilhelm Roentgen, Max Planck, Fritz Haber, Rudolf Ladenburg, James Franck, Max Born, Max von Laue and other early luminaries. He was coauthor of the famous Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule, and author of the seminal book The Quantum Theory, first published in 1920. He was one of the last Jewish physicists to leave Germany during the Nazi period, in 1941. In his book "Heisenberg's War" Thomas Powers relates that Reiche bore news of German work on nuclear fission, in a message from Friedrich Houtermans to Wigner and others in Princeton, where Reiche lived in Einstein's home during the summer of 1941. Reiche's son Hans later claimed that this incident played a significant role in convincing Einstein to write that letter to President Roosevelt. In this talk I will relate the difficulties Reiche experienced, first in leaving Germany and then in reestablishing his physics career in the US. He finally obtained an adjunct position at NYU where he served until his retirement. The role played by the renowned Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars will be discussed. The particular role played by Ladenburg, who was instrumental in obtaining a small grant for Reiche permitting him to obtain a US visa, in helping many physicists leave Nazi Germany and occupied countries, will also be described.
- Publication:
-
APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..APR.H8004B