Max von Laue

German physicist

• Born: October 9, 1879; Pfaffendorf, Germany (now Koblenz, Germany)
• Died: April 24, 1960; Berlin, West Germany (now Berlin, Germany)

German physicist and crystallographer Max von Laue was the first to demonstrate X-ray diffraction in crystals. For this work, he was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Primary field: Physics

Specialties: Condensed-matter (solid-state) physics; theoretical physics

Early Life

Max Theodor Felix Laue was born on October 9, 1879, in Pfaffendorf, in the German Empire. His father, Julius Laue, served as a military administrative official and was later recognized as a nobleman, at which time the family’s surname was changed to von Laue. Because of his father‘s involvement with the military, Laue lived in several different German cities in his youth; he attended primary school in Posen (now Poznan, Poland), Berlin, and finally Strassburg (now Strasbourg, France), where he studied science.

In 1898, Laue left school and began a period of compulsory service in the German military. The following year, he returned to Strassburg to study physics and mathematics. He then enrolled at the University of Göttingen, where he studied under several notable professors. Before long, however, Laue relocated again. He spent a semester at the University of Munich but ultimately moved on to the University of Berlin in 1902.

In Berlin, Laue worked under Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory and one of Germany’s most famous physicists. Laue wrote several papers during this period, including his dissertation on interference phenomena, which are optical effects produced when multiple light waves interfere with one another as they pass through a medium. He earned his doctorate from the University of Berlin in 1903, then spent two years as an assistant at the University of Göttingen before accepting an offer to serve as Planck’s assistant at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Berlin. There, Laue studied the effects of entropy on radiation fields and performed research related to light waves.

During this period, Laue was greatly influenced by Albert Einstein’s proposal of his special theory of relativity. He became an early supporter of the theory and began contributing to the body of research that supported it, publishing his first paper on relativity in 1907 and writing one of the first comprehensive texts covering Einstein’s theories, the first volume of which was published in 1911. He moved back to the University of Munich in 1909, where he lectured on relativity and other areas of theoretical physics. The following year, he married Magdalena Degen, with whom he later had two children.

Life’s Work

At Munich, Laue and his colleagues carried out groundbreaking research dealing with the diffraction of X-rays by crystals. Through these experiments, they determined that X-rays diffract upon passing through a structurally complex crystal, proving that X-rays behave in ways similar to beams of light. They also determined that this diffraction method made it possible to study the atomic structure of the crystal through which the X-rays had passed. In recognition of this discovery, Laue was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics.

In 1912, Laue took on the position of professor of physics at the University of Zurich, where he remained for two years before moving on to the Universities of Frankfurt and Würzburg. At Würzburg, he conducted experiments with high vacuum tubes, which he attempted to apply to wireless communication. He was appointed second director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (later the Max Planck Institute for Physics) at Berlin-Dahlem, serving under Einstein, in 1917. Two years later, he became a professor of physics at the University of Berlin.

While in Berlin, Laue published several books on restricted and general theories of relativity and carried out work related to superconductors, investigating the effects of magnetic fields on superconductivity. He remained in Berlin, where he also served as consultant to the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (Physical and Technical Institute of the German Empire), until 1943. He was forced to move to Hechingen when Berlin was bombed in 1944. He stayed there for a year, during which time he wrote the book Geschichte der Physik (1947; History of Physics, 1950).

During the 1930s, the rise of the Nazi Party led to dramatic changes within the German scientific community. A law enacted in 1933 prohibited Jewish Germans from holding a variety of positions, including that of professor, causing numerous prominent scientists to lose their positions in German universities. In addition, scientists such as physicist Johannes Stark sought to develop a purely “Aryan” form of physics and discredit the work of Jewish scientists such as Einstein. Laue was among the German scientists who defied the Nazi government, publicly protesting the persecution of Einstein and others.

Following the outbreak of World War II, German physicist Werner Heisenberg and a number of other scientists were tasked with developing an atomic bomb for Germany. Laue was invited to join the research team but refused to participate in Germany’s nuclear research program. British troops later entered Germany on a mission to remove several prominent scientists; ten of them, including Laue, Heisenberg, and Otto Hahn, were arrested and taken to England, where they were detained until 1946.

Upon returning to Germany, Laue was named acting director of the Institute for Physics and also took on the position of professor at the University of Göttingen. He continued to write and publish papers, with the International Union of Crystallographers at Harvard University publishing his paper on X-ray absorption in 1948. In 1951, he was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry, which was renamed the Fritz Haber Institute in 1953. Laue retired from teaching in 1958. He died in Berlin on April 24, 1960.

Impact

Though he is best remembered for his work on X-ray crystallography and relativity theory, Laue had a long career in physics, and his work had a significant influence on a variety of fields. For instance, Laue’s research into phenomena related to the Compton effect, which describes the way in which X-rays and other forms of electromagnetic radiation are scattered by collisions with electrons, helped to establish the early cornerstones of quantum theory. His work related to X-ray diffraction made advances in fields such as mineralogy and genetics possible.

Laue was the recipient of dozens of awards and distinctions during his lifetime, including the Ladenburg Medal and the Max Planck Medal. He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Bonn, Munich, Manchester, and Chicago, among other institutions, and was named to the Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts) upon its reestablishment in West Germany in 1952. He was also a member of a number of elite scientific societies, including the Kant Society, the American Physical Society, and the Academy of Sciences of Vienna.

Bibliography

Bernstein, Jeremy. Hitler’s Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall. New York: Copernicus, 2001. Print. Collects correspondence, reports, and transcripts of recorded conversations related to the activities of the ten German scientists, including Laue, who were detained in England in 1945.

Hammond, Christopher. “X-ray Diffraction: The Contributions of Max von Laue, W. H. and W. L. Bragg and P. P. Ewald.” The Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print. Discusses Laue’s work on X-ray diffraction in crystals, explaining the significance of his research and its influence on the work of other scientists.

Hoffmann, Dieter, and Mark Walker, eds. The German Physical Society in the Third Reich: Physicists between Autonomy and Accommodation. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011. Print. Provides context for Laue’s work during the 1930s and his collaborations and conflicts with fellow members of the German Physical Society.

Lightman, Alan. The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in Twentieth-Century Science. New York: Pantheon, 2005. Print. Discusses two dozen of the most important scientific discoveries in the twentieth century, including X-ray diffraction, and how these discoveries have affected the world.

Rosenthal-Schneider, Ilse. Reality and Scientific Truth: Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1980. Print. Explores Laue’s contributions to physics during the twentieth century.