In 1906, Laue became aPrivatdozent at theUniversity of Berlin. There, he metAlbert Einstein for the first time; their friendship contributed to the acceptance and development of Einstein'stheory of relativity. At Berlin, he worked on the application of entropy to radiation fields and on the thermodynamic significance of the coherence of light waves.[10][12]
In 1909, Laue became aPrivatdozent at theUniversity of Munich. During the 1911 Christmas recess and in January 1912,Paul Peter Ewald was finishing the writing of his doctoral thesis underArnold Sommerfeld. It was on a walk through theEnglischer Garten (English Garden) in Munich in January, that Ewald told Laue about his thesis topic. Thewavelengths of concern to Ewald were in the visible region of the spectrum and hence much larger than the spacing between the resonators inEwald's crystal model. He seemed distracted and wanted to know what would be the effect if much smaller wavelengths were considered. In June, Sommerfeld reported to the Physical Society of Göttingen on the successfuldiffraction of X-rays by Laue, Paul Knipping, andWalter Friedrich at Munich, which earned Laue theNobel Prize in Physics in 1914. While at Munich, he wrote the first volume of his book on relativity during 1910–1911.[11][12][13][14]
One of the zincblende X-ray interference patterns published in Laue's 1912 paper.[15]
From 1919 to 1943, Laue was Ordinarius Professor of Physics at the University of Berlin. At the university in 1919, other notables wereWalther Nernst,Fritz Haber, andJames Franck. Laue, as one of the organizers of the weekly Berlin Physics Colloquium, typically sat in the front row with Nernst and Einstein, who would come over from theKaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (KWIP) inBerlin-Dahlem, of which he was the director. Among his students at the university wereLeó Szilárd andFritz London. Laue published the second volume of his book on relativity in 1921.[9][11][16][17]
As a consultant to thePhysikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR), Laue metWalther Meissner, who was working there onsuperconductivity. Meissner had discovered that a weak magnetic field decays rapidly to zero in the interior of a superconductor, which is known as theMeissner effect. In 1932, he showed that the threshold of the applied magnetic field which destroys superconductivity varies with the shape of the body. He published a total of 12 papers and a book on superconductivity. One of the papers was co-authored with brothersFritz andHeinz London.[10][18][19][20] Meissner published a biography on him in 1960.[21]
TheKaiser Wilhelm Society was founded in 1911; its purpose was to promote the sciences by founding and maintaining research institutes. One such institute was the KWIP founded in 1914, with Einstein as its director. Laue was a trustee of the KWIP from 1917, and in 1922 he was appointed deputy director, whereupon he took over the administrative duties from Einstein. Einstein was traveling abroad whenAdolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, and Einstein did not return. He then became acting director of the KWIP, a position he held until 1946 or 1948, except for the period 1935–1939, whenPeter Debye was director. In 1943, to avoid casualties to the personnel, the KWIP moved toHechingen. It was at Hechingen that he wrote his book on the history of physics,Geschichte der Physik, which was eventually translated into seven other languages.[10][22][23]
Laue opposedNazism in general, andDeutsche Physik in particular; the former persecuted theJews, and the latter, among other things, put down thetheory of relativity as "Jewish physics", which he saw as ridiculous: "science has no race or religion". He and his close friend,Otto Hahn, secretly helped scientific colleagues persecuted by Nazi policies to emigrate from Germany. He also openly opposedantisemitism. An address on 18 September 1933 at the opening of the physics convention inWürzburg, opposition toJohannes Stark, an obituary note onFritz Haber in 1934, and attendance at a commemoration for Haber are examples which clearly illustrate Laue's courageous, open opposition:
Laue, as Chairman of theGerman Physical Society, gave the opening address at the 1933 physics convention. In it, he compared thepersecution of Galileo and the oppression of his scientific views on the solar theory ofCopernicus to the then conflict and persecution over the theory of relativity by the proponents ofDeutsche Physik, against the work of Einstein, labeled "Jewish physics."
Stark, who had received theNobel Prize in Physics in 1919, wished to become theFührer of German physics and was a proponent ofDeutsche Physik. Against the unanimous advice of those consulted, Stark was appointed President of the PTR in May 1933. However, Laue successfully blocked Stark's regular membership in thePrussian Academy of Sciences.
Haber received theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918. In spite of this and his many other contributions to Germany, he was forced to emigrate from Germany as a result of theLaw for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which removed Jews from their jobs. Laue's obituary note[24] praising Haber and comparing his forced emigration to the expulsion ofThemistocles from Athens was a direct affront to National Socialism.
In connection with Haber; Max Planck, Otto Hahn, and Laue organized a commemoration event held in Berlin-Dahlem on 29 January 1935, the first anniversary of Haber's death – attendance at the event by professors in the civil service had been expressly forbidden by the government. While many scientific and technical personnel were represented at the memorial by their wives, Laue and Wolfgang Heubner were the only two professors to attend.[25][26] This was yet another blatant demonstration of Laue's opposition to National Socialism. The date of the first anniversary of Haber's death was also one day before the second anniversary of National Socialism seizing power in Germany, thus further increasing the affront given by holding the event.
The speech and the obituary note earned Laue government reprimands. Furthermore, in response to Laue blocking Stark's regular membership in the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Stark, in December 1933, had Laue sacked from his position as advisor to the PTR, which Laue had held since 1925. Chapters 4 and 5 of Mark Walker’sNazi Science: Myth, Truth, and the Atomic Bomb, present a more detailed account of the struggle by Laue and Planck against the Nazi takeover of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.[18][27][28][29][30][31]
In a commonly reported anecdote Laue is supposed to have carried parcels in his hands when exiting his house, so to avoid having to give theNazi Salute.[32][33][34]
When Germanyinvaded Denmark inWorld War II, the Hungarian chemistGeorge de Hevesy dissolved theNobel Prize gold medals of Laue andJames Franck inaqua regia to prevent the Nazis from discovering them. At the time, it was illegal to take gold out of the country, and if it had been discovered that Laue had done so, he could have faced prosecution in Germany. Hevesy placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at theNiels Bohr Institute. After the war, he returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The Nobel Society then re-cast the Nobel Prize gold medals, using the original gold.[35]
On 23 April 1945, French troops entered Hechingen, followed the next day by a contingent ofOperation Alsos—an operation to investigate the German nuclear energy effort, seize equipment, and prevent German scientists from being captured by the Soviets. The scientific advisor to the Operation was the Dutch-American physicistSamuel Goudsmit, who, adorned with a steel helmet, appeared at Laue's home. Laue was taken into custody and taken to Huntingdon, England, and interned atFarm Hall with other scientists thought to be involved in nuclear research and development.[18]
While incarcerated, Laue was a reminder to the other detainees that one could survive the Nazi reign without having "compromised"; this alienated him from others being detained.[36] During his incarceration, he wrote a paper on the absorption ofX-rays under interference conditions, which it was later published inActa Crystallographica.[18] On 2 October 1945, Laue,Otto Hahn, andWerner Heisenberg, were taken to meet withHenry Hallett Dale, President of theRoyal Society, and other members of the society. There, he was invited to attend the 9 November 1945 Royal Society meeting in memory of the German physicistWilhelm Röntgen, who discovered X-rays; however, permission was not forthcoming from the military authorities detaining him.[18]
In early 1946, Laue returned to Germany, where he went back to being acting director of the KWIP, which had been moved to Göttingen. The same year, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society became theMax Planck Society, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics was renamed theMax Planck Institute for Physics. He also became an adjunct professor at theUniversity of Göttingen. In addition to his administrative and teaching responsibilities, he wrote his book on superconductivity,Theorie der Supraleitung, and revised his books onelectron diffraction,Materiewellen und ihre Interferenzen, and the first volume of his two-volume book on relativity.[11][18][37]
In July 1946, Laue went back to England, only four months after having been interned there, to attend an international conference on crystallography. This was a distinct honor, as he was the only German invited to attend. He was extended many courtesies by the British officer who escorted him there and back, and a well-known English crystallographer as his host; Laue was even allowed to wander around London on his own.[18]
After the war, there was much to be done in re-establishing and organizing German scientific endeavors. Laue participated in some key roles; in 1946, he initiated the founding of the German Physical Society in only theBritish Occupation Zone, as theAllied Control Council would not initially allow organizations across occupation zone boundaries. During the war, the PTR had been dispersed; Laue, from 1946 to 1948, worked on its reunification across three zones and its location at new facilities inBraunschweig. Additionally, it took on a new name as thePhysikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, but administration was not taken over by Germany until after the formation ofWest Germany on 23 May 1949. In 1948, the President of theAmerican Physical Society asked Laue to report on the status of physics in Germany; his report was published in 1949 in theAmerican Journal of Physics.[38] In 1950, he participated in the creation of theVerband Deutscher Physikalischer Gesellschaften, formerly affiliated under theNordwestdeutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.[11][18][37]
In April 1951, Laue became Director of theMax-Planck-Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie, a position he held until 1959. In 1953, at the request of Laue, the Institute was renamed theFritz-Haber-Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.[18][39]
It was in 1913 that Laue's father, Julius Laue, a civil servant in the military administration, was raised into the ranks of hereditarynobility, thus he becameMax von Laue.[12] In 1910, Laue married Magdalene Degen, with whom he had two children.[12] Their son,Theodor (1916–2000), went to the United States in 1937, and received his B.A. and Ph.D. fromPrinceton University. After his service in the U.S. Army, Theodor taught modern history as a professor at various U.S. universities.[40]
Among Laue's chief recreational activities were mountaineering, motoring in his automobile, motor-biking, sailing, and skiing. While not a mountain climber, he did enjoy hiking on theAlpine glaciers with his friends.[10]
On 8 April 1960, while Laue was driving to his laboratory inWest Berlin, his car was struck by a motorcyclist, who had received his license only two days earlier. The motorcyclist was killed and Laue's car was overturned. He died from his injuries sixteen days later on 24 April at the age of 80.[10] He had asked that hisepitaph should read that he had died trusting firmly inGod's mercy.[41][42][43] He is buried at theStadtfriedhof inGöttingen.
1921: Regular member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences[11]
From 1921: Chairman of the physics commission of theNotgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Renamed in 1937: Deutsche Gemeinschaft zur Erhaltung und Förderun der Forschung. No longer active by 1945.)[44]
1925 – 1933: Advisor to thePhysikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (Today: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt).[11] Laue had been sacked in 1933 from his advisory position by Johannes Stark, Nobel Prize recipient and President of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, in retribution for Laue's open opposition to the Nazis by blocking Stark's regular membership in the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
Deutsche Post (der DDR) Briefmarke (postage stamp), 1979Relativitätsprinzip, 1913
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie. Band 1: Die spezielle Relativitätstheorie (Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, 1911, and 1919)
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie. Erster Band. Das Relativitätsprinzip der Lorentz-transformation. Vierte vermehrte Auflage. (Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1921)
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie. Zweiter Band : Die Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie Und Einsteins Lehre Von Der Schwerkraft (Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, 1921 and 1923)
Max von LaueKorpuskular- und Wellentheorie (Leipzig, 1933)
Max von LaueDie Interferenzen von Röntgen- und Elektronenstrahlen. Fünf Vorträge. (Springer, 1935)
Max von LaueEine Ausgestaltung der Londonschen Theorie der Supraleitung (Barth, 1942)
Max von LaueMateriewellen und ihre Interferenzen (Akadem. Verl.-Ges. Becker & Erler, 1944) (Geest und Portig, 1948)
Max von LaueTheorie der Supraleitung (Springer, 1947 and 1949)
Max von Laue, translated by Lothar Meyer and William BandTheory of Superconductivity (N.Y., 1952)
Max von LaueGeschichte der Physik (Univ.-Verl., 1946 and 1947), (Athenäum-Verl., 1950) and (Ullstein Taschenbücher-Verl., 1959, 1966 and 1982) [This book was translated into seven other languages.[10]]
Max von Laue, translated by Ralph E. OesperHistory of Physics (Academic Press, 1950)
Max von LaueHistoire De La Physique (Lamarre, 1953)
Max von LaueGeschiedenis der natuurkunde ('s Gravenhage, Stols, 1950 and 1954)
Max Planck and Max von LaueWissenschaftliche Selbstbiographie (Barth, 1948)
Max von LaueRöntgenstrahlinterferenzen (Akadem. Verl.-Ges., 1948)
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie. Bd. 2. Die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie (Vieweg, 1953)
Max Planck and Max von LaueVorlesungen über Thermodynamik de Gruyter (Gebundene, 1954)
Walter Friedrich, Paul Knipping, and Max von LaueInterferenzerscheinungen bei Röntgenstrahlen (J. A. Barth, 1955)
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie. Bd. 1. Die spezielle Relativitätstheorie (Vieweg, 1955)
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie. Bd. 2. Die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie (Vieweg, 1956)
Max von LaueMax von Laue
Max von LaueRöntgenwellenfelder in Kristallen (Akademie-Verl., 1959)
Max von LaueVon Laue-Festschrift. 1 (Akadem. Verl.-Ges., 1959)
Max von LaueVon Laue-Festschrift. 2 (Akadem. Verl.-Ges., 1960)
Max von Laue and Ernst Heinz WagnerRöntgenstrahl-Interferenzen (Akadem. Verl.-Ges., 1960)
Max von Laue and Friedrich BeckDie Relativitätstheorie. Bd. 1. Die spezielle Relativitätstheorie (Vieweg, 1961 and 1965)
Max von LaueGesammelte Schriften und Vorträge. Bd. 1 (Vieweg, 1961)
Max von LaueGesammelte Schriften und Vorträge. Bd. 2 (Vieweg, 1961)
Max von LaueGesammelte Schriften und Vorträge. Bd. 3 (Vieweg, 1961)
Max von LaueAufsätze und Vorträge (Vieweg, 1961 and 1962)
Max von Laue and Friedrich BeckDie Relativitätstheorie. Bd. 2. Die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie (Vieweg, 1965)
Max von LaueDie Relativitätstheorie II. Die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie (Vieweg Friedr. und Sohn Ver, 1982)
Friedrich W, Knipping P, von Laue M (1912)."Interferenz-Erscheinungen bei Röntgenstrahlen"(PDF).Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Physikalischen Classe der Königlich-Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München [Interference phenomena in X-rays].1912: 303.
Laue, Max von (1913). "Kritische Bemerkungen zu den Deutungen der Photogramme von Friedrich und Knipping".Physikalische Zeitschrift.14 (10):421–423. Received 1 April 1913, published in issue No. 10 of 15 May 1913. As cited in Mehra, Volume 5, Part 2, 2001, p. 922.
Laue, Max von (1913). "Zur Optik der Raumgitter".Physikalische Zeitschrift.14 (21):1040–1041. Received 1 October 1913, published in issue No. 21 of 1 November 1913. As cited in Mehra, Volume 5, Part 2, 2001, p. 922.
Laue, Max von (1913). "Röntgenstrahlinterferenzen".Physikalische Zeitschrift.14 (22/23):1075–1079. Presented on 24 September 1913 at the 85th Naturforscherversammlung, Vienna, published in issue No. 22/23 of 15 November 1913. As cited in Mehra, Volume 5, Part 2, 2001, p. 922.
Laue, Max von (1913). "Zur Optik der Raumgitter".Physikalische Zeitschrift.14 (25):1286–1287. Received 21 November 1913, published in issue No. 25 of 15 December 1913. As cited in Mehra, Volume 5, Part 2, 2001, p. 922.
^Planck, Max (1900)."Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspektrum"(PDF).Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft.2:237–245. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 7 August 2015. Cited in Hans Kango, editor, and translated by D. ter Haar and Stephen G. BushPlanck's Original Papers in Quantum Physics: German and English Edition (Taylor and Francis, 1972) p. 60.
^Max von Laue – Mathematics Genealogy Project. Max von Laue, Ph.D., Universität Berlin, 1903, Dissertation title:Über die Interferenzerscheinungen an planparallelen Platten.
^Habilitation title: "Über die Entropie von interferierenden Strahlenbündeln"
^Friedrich W, Knipping P, von Laue M (1912)."Interferenz-Erscheinungen bei Röntgenstrahlen"(PDF).Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Physikalischen Classe der Königlich-Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München [Interference phenomena in X-rays].1912: 303.
^Andreas Daum,Hartmut Lehmann,James J. Sheehan (eds.),The Second Generation: Émigrés from Nazi Germany as Historians. With a Biobibliographic Guide. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016,ISBN978-1-78238-985-9 12, 22, 24, 29, 34, 36, 403‒4 (including a short biography and bibliography of his works).
Hentschel, Klaus, ed. (1996).Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources. Ann M. Hentschel (translator). Basel:Birkhäuser Verlag.ISBN0-8176-5312-0.
Walker, Mark H. (1995).Nazi science: myth, truth, and the German atomic bomb. New York: Plenum Press.ISBN0-306-44941-2.
Lemmerich, Jost (2020).Max von Laue – Furchtlos und treu. Eine Biographie des Nobelpreisträgers für Physik (hardback). Rangsdorf: Basilisken-Presse.ISBN978-3-941365-56-8.
Medawar, Jean; Pyke, David (2012).Hitler's Gift: The True Story of the Scientists Expelled by the Nazi Regime (Paperback). New York: Arcade Publishing.ISBN978-1-61145-709-4.
Mehra, Jagdish;Rechenberg, Helmut (2001).The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 1 Part 1 The Quantum Theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Sommerfeld 1900–1925: Its Foundation and the Rise of Its Difficulties. Springer.ISBN0-387-95174-1.
Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (2001).The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 1 Part 2 The Quantum Theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Sommerfeld 1900–1925: Its Foundation and the Rise of Its Difficulties. Springer.ISBN0-387-95175-X.
Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (2001).The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 5 Erwin Schrödinger and the Rise of Wave Mechanics. Part 1 Schrödinger in Vienna and Zurich 1887–1925. Springer.ISBN0-387-95179-2.
Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (2001).The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Volume 5 Erwin Schrödinger and the Rise of Wave Mechanics. Part 2 Schrödinger in Vienna and Zurich 1887–1925. Springer.ISBN0-387-95180-6.
Rosenthal-Schneider, Ilse (1988).Begegnungen mit Einstein, von Laue und Planck. Realität und wissenschaftliche Wahrheit. Braunschweig: Vieweg.ISBN3-528-08970-9.
Rosenthal-Schneider, Ilse (1980).Reality and Scientific Truth: Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck. Wayne State University.ISBN0-8143-1650-6.
Walker, Mark H. (1993).German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power, 1939–1949. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-43804-7.
Zeitz, Katharina (2006).Max von Laue (1879–1960) Seine Bedeutung für den Wiederaufbau der deutschen Wissenschaft nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Steiner Franz Verlag.ISBN3-515-08814-8.
