Serving the Reich

by Philip Ball

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  Image Credits

  p. 8 The delegates at the 1927 Solvay conference in Brussels; photograph by Benjamin Couprie, Institut International de Physique Solvay, Brussels, Belgium

  p. 11 Max Planck; reproduced courtesy of the Archives of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem

  p. 35 Peter Debye; reproduced courtesy of the Archives of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem

  p. 40 Werner Heisenberg; photograph by Fritz Hund, reproduced courtesy of the Archives of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem

  p. 118 The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics; reproduced courtesy of the Archives of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem

  p. 119 The high-voltage equipment at the KWIP, from Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung (1937), p. 16, reproduced courtesy of the Archives of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem

  p. 159 The 1933 Solvay conference; photograph by Benjamin Couprie, Institut International de Physique Solvay, Brussels, Belgium

  Index

  academic freedom, under the Nazis 48, 69–72

  Alberer, Elizabeth 181–3

  Albrecht, Helmuth 63, 64

  Alsos mission 194, 195, 198, 228

  Anshen, Ruth Nanda 204

  anti-Semitism 21, 50–60, 72, 82–8

  Appleget, Thomas 112

  Aryan physics, see Deutche Physik

  Asilomar Conference (1975) 261, 262

  Aston, Francis 150–2

  atomic physics 23–5, 88, 149

  Bagge, Erich 188, 197, 221, 222

  Bavarian Academy of Sciences 77, 78

  Becquerel, Henri 143, 144

  Berg, Paul 261, 262

  Bernstein, Jeremy 198, 202, 215

  Bethe, Hans 36, 55, 155, 215

  Bewilogua, Ludwig 118

  Beyerchen, Alan 9, 44, 67, 71, 244, 248

  biotechnology 261, 262

  Bloch, Felix 55

  Bohr, Aage 215, 256

  Bohr, Niels 41, 134, 139, 150, 151, 161, 202, 223, 256

  —and quantum theory 24, 29–31

  —Copenhagen meeting 205–11, 215

  Born, Max 12, 23, 25, 26, 31, 41, 55, 57–9, 69, 70, 249, 260

  Bosch, Carl 67, 68, 97, 133, 134, 135, 165

  Bothe, Walther 90, 153, 154, 187, 188, 192, 216

  Bracher, Karl Dietrich 47

  Brack, Viktor 120, 121

  Braun, Wernher von 191, 227

  Breit, Gregory 172

  Bridgman, Percy 254, 255, 260

  Bush, George W., interference in science 266

  Butenandt, Adolf 120

  Casimir, Hendrik 38, 210, 247

  Cassidy, David 103, 206

  cathode rays 15, 23, 83, 84, 143

  Chadwick, James 153–5

  Civil Service Laws 3, 43, 54, 55, 63, 66

  Cockcroft, John 156, 163

  Copenhagen (Frayn, 1998) 204, 205, 210

  Cornell University

  —and Peter Debye 2, 3, 166, 169, 171, 178

  —response to the Debye affair 3, 237, 238

  cosmic rays 145

  Coster, Dirk 134, 135, 136, 195

  Courant, Richard 70, 224

  Curie, Marie 7, 142, 144, 145, 147–9

  Curie, Pierre 144, 145, 148, 149

  Dames, Wilhelm 124–6, 187

  Dawkins, Richard 253

  Debye, Mathilde (née Alberer) 38, 168, 169, 174, 179, 181

  Debye, Mathilde Maria (‘Maida’; daughter) 38, 180–3

  Debye, Peter 1–5, 6, 23, 89, 100, 165–9, 187, 212, 243, 245, 249

  —2006 controversy 2, 234–41, 248, 249

  —and anti-Semitism 3, 130–3

  —and the German Physical Society 122–33

  —and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics 2, 107–21, 165–7, 179–81

  —early life of 34–7

  —family life 168, 169, 180–4, 235

  —in the United States 171–86, 234

  —Nobel Prize 121, 122

  —pre-war career 24, 36–9, 71, 107–41

  Debye, Peter (Jnr) 38, 114, 131, 169, 236, 237

  Debye-Saxinger, Norwig 127, 178, 181

  Delbrück, Max 68, 127, 184, 185

  Deutsche Physik 82–106, 221

  Diebner, Kurt 164, 166, 188, 189, 192, 197, 218, 221

  Döpel, Robert 192, 219, 222

  Dorsman, Leen 249

  Dürrenmatt, Friedrich 245

  Ebermayer, Erich 50

  Eddington, Arthur 15

  Ehrenfest, Paul 130, 174

  Eickhoff, Martijn 130–2, 137, 179, 235, 237, 239

  Einstein, Albert 15, 23, 31, 37, 72, 109, 110, 138, 163, 177, 249

  —and anti-Semitism 55, 82, 85–94

  —and quantum theory 13, 14, 27, 29

  —and the Prussian Academy of Sciences 73–8

  —comments on Peter Debye 173–5

  —German criticism of 9, 19, 82, 85–9

  —theories of special and general relativity 14, 15

  Elster, Julius 146

  Epstein, Paul 37, 234

  Esau, Abraham 125, 169, 187, 193, 201

  Ewald, Paul 37, 80, 94, 123

  Fajans, Kasimir 129–30, 172

  Farm Hall 197–202, 221, 222

  Feather, Norman 155, 156

  Fermi, Enrico 123, 155, 158, 159, 161, 162, 189, 216

  Ficker, Heinrich von 74, 77–9

  Finkelnburg, Wolfgang 220, 221

  First World War 5, 10, 11, 15, 18

  Fischer, Emil 11, 16

  Flügge, Siegfried 163

  Fokker, Adriaan 135

  Foley, Francis Edward 139

  Forman, Paul 31, 265, 266

  Fosdick, Raymond 111

&
nbsp; Franck, James 55, 69, 85, 90, 95, 110, 112, 175, 234, 249

  Frank, Philipp 80

  Frayn, Michael 204, 205

  Frisch, Otto 134, 161

  Gans, Richard 129, 130

  Geiger, Hans 90, 99, 110, 149, 152, 187, 188

  Geitel, Hans 146

  Gerlach, Walther 103, 193, 197, 201, 202, 219, 223

  German Physical Society (DPG) 2, 74, 122–30, 169–71, 220, 221, 234

  German science

  —post-WWI 9–11, 15–20

  —social and cultural context 7–10

  Gisevius, Hans Bernd 6, 45, 46, 233, 246, 247

  Glaser, Ludwig 87, 90, 91

  Glum, Friedrich 71, 109, 110

  Goebbels, Joseph 33, 47, 50, 74, 116, 142, 170

  Goering, Hermann 170, 174, 191

  Goudsmit, Samuel 9, 55, 124, 171, 172, 194–6, 198, 199, 204, 213, 214, 223, 225, 227, 228, 241, 242, 249, 263

  Groth, Wilhelm 163, 187

  Grotrian, Walter 227

  Groves, Leslie 194, 198, 213

  Haber, Fritz 11, 17, 18, 61, 65–9, 109, 248

  Haberer, Joseph 68, 251, 252, 255, 256, 258, 259, 266

  Hahn, Otto 43, 44, 57, 67, 68, 122, 133, 135, 136, 138, 149, 158–60, 188, 190, 191, 197, 199, 200, 223, 224, 230, 231, 251

  Hanle, Wilhelm 187, 216

  Harnack, Adolf von 16–21

  Harteck, Paul 163, 187, 188, 191–4, 197, 199

  heavy water 140, 162, 188, 193, 194

  Heilbron, John 10, 57, 104, 220

  Heisenberg, Elizabeth (née Schumacher) 40

  Heisenberg, Werner 4–6, 15, 23, 46, 57–9, 67, 71, 96, 98–103, 121, 185, 194–6, 197, 199, 200, 202–5, 225, 226, 241–3, 249

  —and quantum theory 25–30

  —and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics 183, 192

  —Copenhagen meeting 205–11

  —early life 39–42

  —family life 40

  —post-war career 219, 225

  —uncertainty principle 28

  —work in nuclear physics 145, 187–94, 202–5, 211–19

  Hentschel, Klaus 129, 170, 205, 224, 239

  Hertz, Gustav 90, 249

  Hess, Kurt 133, 136

  Hess, Victor 145

  Heuss, Theodor 47

  Heymann, Ernst 75, 77, 78

  Hilbert, David 70

  Himmler, Heinrich 100–2, 134, 191

  Hitler, Adolf 20, 21, 43, 44, 49, 50, 52, 60–4, 90, 93, 94, 120