Paul Scherrer
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Paul Scherrer (1890-1969) was a Swiss physicist. He was born in Herisau, Switzerland. He studied at Göttingen, Germany, before becoming a lecturer there. Later, Scherrer became head of the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich.
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[edit] Early Studies
Scherrer began his studies in 1908 at the ETH in Zurich. In 1912 he moved to Königsberg for one term and then finished his studies in Göttingen. Still in Göttingen he earned his PhD in 1916 with a thesis on the Faraday effect of the Hydrogen molecule. At the same time he developed the powder diffraction method with Peter Debye. This technique for measuring crystal structure is thus also known as the Debye-Scherrer method.
Scherrer achieved the position of Privatdozent at Göttingen before gaining a professorship at the ETH in Zurich in 1920, and becoming head of experimental physics there in 1927.
[edit] Nuclear and Atomic Physics
In the 1930s, Scherrer began to specialise in nuclear physics, becoming president of the Schweizerischen Studienkommission für Atomenergie in 1946 and taking part in the 1954 founding of CERN.
Beginning in late 1944, Scherrer became close to Moe Berg and, through Berg, gave the United States information about German science and German scientists, especially related to efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.[1]
[edit] Legacy
In 1988, two Swiss nuclear research institutes were combined to form the Paul Scherrer Institute, which is based near Villigen, in Canton Aargau.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Nicholas Dawidoff, The Catcher Was a Spy, Vintage, 1994. ISBN 0679762892. passim., but especially p. 202 et. seq.
