Overview

This biography gives an insider view of 20th century German science in the making. The discovery by Max von Laue in 1912 of interference effects demonstrated the wave-like nature of X-rays and the atomic lattice structure of crystals. This major advance for research on solids earned him the Nobel Prize two years later, the ultimate acclaim as an exceptional theoretician. As an early supporter of Einstein’s relativity theory, he published fundamental papers on light scattering as well as on matter waves and superconductivity. Laue may be counted among the few persons of influence in Germany who – as Einstein put it – managed to “stay morally upright” under Nazism. It is thus surprising that this is the first extensive biography of this famous scientist. Jost Lemmerich could hardly have been better equipped to describe German physics and physicists in the 1920s. His copiously illustrated historical account is based as much on scientific material as on private correspondence, creating a fascinating and convincingly detailed portrait.

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9783030946982

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Reviews

This book is a scholarly tour de force. It is illustrated with numerous portraits of the scientists and with fully referenced quotes and footnotes from their correspondence. It is a joy to read; and I learnt a lot. (Moreton Moore, Crystallography Reviews, March 10, 2023)

“There can be no doubt that a comprehensive scientific biography of Max von Laue is overdue. He is most famous for the discovery of X-ray diffraction by crystals which earned him the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics. … His life …  deserves interest both from the perspective of physics as a discipline and the performance of a scientist within society. … the material contained in this biography makes it worthwhile to study carefully for anyone making a new attempt.” (Michael Eckert, Physics in Perspective, Vol. 25, 2023) “This book is a scholarly tour de force. It is illustrated with numerous portraits of the scientists and with fully referenced quotes and footnotes from their correspondence. It is a joy to read; and I learnt a lot.” (Moreton Moore, Crystallography Reviews, March 10, 2023)

Author Information

Dr. rer.nat. h.c. Jost Lemmerich (1929–2018), a trained chemist and physicist and retired European patent expert, dedicated his leisure time over many decades to the history of science, organizing major exhibitions and preparing important collections such as Lise Meitner’s papers at Churchill College. This author of ten books, including a biography of James Franck, Lemmerich received numerous academic awards as well as Germany’s Distinguished Service Cross.  Ann M. Hentschel is a freelance translator specialized in the history of science. She has translated over thirty books, including a number of volumes in the series The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein and more recently: Photons – The History and Mental Models of Light Quanta by Klaus Hentschel (Springer 2018).  

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