Authorised form of name | Bethe; Hans Albrecht (1906 - 2005) |
Dates | 1906 - 2005 |
Nationality | American |
Place of birth | Strasbourg, Germany |
Date of birth | 02/07/1906 |
Place of death | Ithaca, New York |
Date of death | 06/03/2005 |
Occupation | Theoretical Physicist, played a vital role in the Manhattan Project - the development of the atom bomb at Los Alamos; winner of Nobel Prize for Physics for his 'carbon cycle' formula, which explains how the sun generates its energy |
Activity | Education: Goethe Gymnasium, Frankfurt-am-Main (1915-1924); read Physics at Frankfurt University; doctorate in theoretical physics at Munich University (1926-1928), used quantum mechanics in his work on electron diffraction and refraction in crystals Career: Lecturer, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich universities (1928-1929); Rockefeller International Fellowship - worked with Sir Ernest Rutherford (Cambridge) and Enrico Fermi (Rome); Assistant Professor,Tubingen University (1932-1933) but lost his job as his mother was Jewish; supported by Academic Assistance Council (Society for the Protection of Science and Learning), worked at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge with R H Fowler; visiting lectureship, University of Manchester (1933-1934); fellowship at Bristol University (1934-1935); Assistant Professor of Theoretical Physics, Cornell University (1935-1937), Professor (1937-1975), Professor Emeritus; awarded Morrison Prize by New York Academy of Sciences (1938 and 1940); worked on microwave radar, Radiation Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1942); Head of Theoretical Physics Division, Los Alamos Atomic Scientific Laboratory (Manhattan Project) (1943-1946); consultant, Atomic Energy Commission (1945-1964); part of nine man Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists led by Albert Einstein who saught to educate the public about atomic energy (1946); invited to return to Los Alamos (1949) to develop hydrogen bomb but declined to be involved; member of US Presidential science advisory committee (1956-1959); John Wendell Anderson Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Cornell University. Medals and prizes: Awarded US Presidential Medal of Merit (1946), Max Planck Medal (1955), Enrico Fermi Award (1961), US National Academy of Sciences' Vannevar Bush Award (1985), Einstein Peace Prize (1993); Nobel Prize (Physics) 1967 |
Membership category | Foreign Member |
Date of election | 09/05/1957 |
Age at election | 50 |
Royal Society activity | Lectures: Bakerian 1993 |
Relationships | Son of Albrecht Bethe, professor of physiology; married (1939) Rose Ewald daughter of P P Ewald FRS. |
Sources | Sources: Obituaries: in Telegraph, Times, Guardian (08 March 2005), Independent (09 March 2005) Biographical Memoir by Sabine Lee and Gerry E Brown in Volume 53 (2007) pp 1-20
References: David Thouless, 'Two Pioneers of Modern Theoretical Physics', review of H A Bethe, Selected Works of Hans A Bethe, With Commentary and R H Dalitz and Sir Rudolf Peierls, Selected Scientific Papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls, With Commentary in NR 1999 vol 53 pp 282-288 |
Royal Society code | NA4303 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference number | Title | Date |
RR/52/51 | Referee's report by Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, on a paper 'On the annihilation radiation of positrons' by Hans Albrecht Bethe | January 1935 |
RR/52/50 | Referee's report by Ralph Howard Fowler, on a paper 'The scattering of neutrons by protons' by Hans Albrecht Bethe and R Peierls | November 1934 |
RR/52/49 | Referee's report by Charles Galton Darwin, on a paper 'Quantum theory of the diplon' by Hans Albrecht Bethe and R Peierls | August 1934 |
RR/52/48 | Referee's report by Ralph Howard Fowler, on a paper 'On the stopping of fast particles and on the creation of positive electrons' by Hans Albrecht Bethe and W Heitler | March 1934 |
EC/1957/26 | Bethe, Hans Albrecht: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |