Max (Theordor Felix) von Laue

Physicist, born near Koblenz, W Germany. As professor of physics at Zürich (1912), he worked on X-ray diffraction in crystals, leading to the use of X-rays to study the atomic structure of matter. He supported Einstein's theory of relativity, and investigated quantum theory and the Compton effect. He was appointed director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics in 1919, and director of the Max Planck Institute for Research in Physical Chemistry, Berlin in 1951. He was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Max von Laue

Max von Laue
Born	October 9, 1879 Pfaffendorf, Germany
Died	April 24, 1960 Berlin, Germany
Nationality	German
Field	Physicist
Institution	University of Zürich University of Frankfurt University of Berlin Max Planck Institute
Alma Mater	University of Strassburg University of Göttingen University of Munich University of Berlin University of Göttingen
Doctoral Advisor	Max Planck
Doctoral Students	Max Kohler Erna Weber
Known for	Diffraction of X-rays
Notable Prizes	Nobel Prize for Physics (1914)

Max von Laue (October 9, 1879 in Pfaffendorf, Germany - April 24, 1960 in Berlin, Germany) was a German physicist, who studied under Max Planck. He then went to the University of Strassburg where he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry; but soon he moved to the University of Göttingen, where he worked under Professor W. After a semester at the University of Munich he went, in 1902, to the University of Berlin to work under Professor Max Planck. Lummer on interference spectroscopy and heat radiation, the influence of which was shown in von Laue's dissertation on interference phenomena in plane-parallel plates.

After obtaining his doctorate at Berlin in 1903, von Laue went for two years to the University of Göttingen.

von Laue became professor of physics at the University of Zurich in 1912. This was verified experimentally in 1912 by two of von Laue's students working under his direction.

From 1919 von Laue was a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Berlin and director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Berlin.

When Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, the Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of Max von Laue and James Franck into aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from stealing them.

von Laue championed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, did research on the quantum theory, the Compton effect (change of wavelength in light under certain conditions), and the disintegration of atoms.

In 1910 von Laue married Magdalena Degen.

On April 8, 1960, when he was driving alone to his laboratory, a motor cyclist, who had only received his licence two days previously, collided with von Laue's car. The motor cyclist was instantly killed and von Laue's car overturned in the Berlin speedway and he was taken from beneath it by the Fire Brigade.