Max Born
Born on 11 December 1882 in Breslau (then in Germany), Max Born was a Nobel Prize–winning physicist and quantum mechanics pioneer. Born attended the Universities of Breslau, Heidelberg, Zürich, and finally Göttingen, where he earned his PhD in 1907. Over the next decade, Born worked at a number of universities, including those in Cambridge, Berlin, and Frankfurt. His first research efforts centered on solid-state physics and crystal theory. Despite being drafted into the German army during World War I, Born managed to continue his research and published his first book, Dynamik der Kristallgitter (1915; Dynamics of Crystal Lattices). In 1921, he returned to Göttingen as a professor of theoretical physics, and over the next 12 years he performed some of his most important research. In collaboration with Wolfgang Pauli and Werner Heisenberg, one of his students, Born carried out a series of studies on atomic structure and quantum theory. His fundamental research in quantum mechanics and statistical studies of wavefunctions would earn him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954. Besides his cutting-edge research, Born was also an excellent lecturer and developed strong relationships with his graduate students. Because of his Jewish ancestry, Born was forced to emigrate from Germany in 1933. Over the next several years, he taught at Cambridge University, then spent the winter of 1935–36 in Bangalore at the Indian Institute of Science, working with C. V. Raman . Born returned to the UK in 1936 when he was appointed Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, where he remained until he retired in 1953. He then returned to Germany, taking up residence in Bad Pyrmont, near Göttingen. In addition to the Nobel, Born received many honors, including fellowship in the Royal Society. He was awarded Cambridge’s Stokes Medal in 1934 and the Royal Society’s Hughes Medal in 1950. He also wrote more than 300 articles and some 20 books, many considered classics in their fields. Born died in 1970 at age 87. (Photo credit: ‘Voltiana,’ Como, Italy – 10 September 1927 issue, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives)
Date in History: 11 December 1882