Peierls, Sir Rudolf Ernst

Peierls, Sir Rudolf Ernst
▪ 1996

      German-born British physicist (b. June 5, 1907, Berlin, Germany—d. Sept. 19, 1995, Oxford, England), laid the theoretical foundations for the creation of the first atomic bomb. In 1940 he and Otto Frisch, a colleague at the University of Birmingham, England, issued a three-page memorandum that correctly theorized that a highly explosive but compact bomb could be fashioned out of small amounts of the rare element uranium-235. This memo ignited the race to develop the bomb in Britain and the United States, advancing it from an issue of academic speculation to an Allied war project of the highest priority. Peierls studied and conducted research at universities in Berlin, Munich, and Leipzig, Germany; Zurich, Switz.; and Manchester and Cambridge, England, before becoming a professor of mathematical physics at Birmingham in 1937. His early work in quantum theory led to studies in nuclear physics. Despite the fact that it was his research that gave rise to the British bomb effort, he was initially excluded from official proceedings because of his German origins. In 1943 his British atomic research group joined the Manhattan Project in the United States. After the war he reassumed his professorship at Birmingham, working there until 1963, when he joined the University of Oxford. He retired from Oxford in 1974 and taught for three years at the University of Washington. Among his books are The Laws of Nature (1955), Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1979), and More Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1991); he also wrote on nuclear disarmament for the Pugwash Conference. He became a British citizen in 1940 and was knighted in 1968. His autobiography, Bird of Passage, was published in 1985.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • PEIERLS, SIR RUDOLF ERNST — (1907–1995), British physicist. Peierls, who was born in Berlin, held an appointment at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich from 1929 to 1932. In 1933 he went to England and pursued research at Manchester University for four years. He… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Rudolf Ernst Peierls — Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (5 juin 1907 19 septembre 1995), physicien théoricien allemand. Il s installa en Angleterre en 1933, et y fît tout le reste de sa carrière universitaire. Il a été anobli en 1968. Sommaire 1 Éléments… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Peierls — Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (5 juin 1907 19 septembre 1995), physicien théoricien allemand. Il s installa en Angleterre en 1933, et y fît tout le reste de sa carrière universitaire. Il a été anobli en 1968. Sommaire 1 Éléments… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Rudolf Peierls — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Rudolf Peierls Nacimiento 5 de junio de 1907 Berlín, Alemania Fallecimiento 19 de septiembre de 1995 Oxford …   Wikipedia Español

  • Rudolf Peierls — Rudolf Peierls, 1937 Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (5 juin 1907 19 septembre 1995), physicien théoricien allemand. Il s installa en Angleterre en 1933, et y fît tout le reste de sa carrière universitaire. Il a été anobli en 1968. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Rudolf Peierls — Infobox Scientist box width = 300px name = Rudolf Peierls image size = 200px caption = Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (1907 1995) birth date = June 5 1907, Berlin birth place = Berlin, Germany death date = September 19, 1995 death place = Oxford,UK… …   Wikipedia

  • Rudolf Peierls — Rudolf Peierls, 1937 Sir Rudolph Ernst Peierls (* 5. Juni 1907 in Berlin; † 19. September 1995 in Oxford) war ein deutsch britischer Physiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peierls — Sir Rudolph Ernst Peierls (* 5. Juni 1907 in Berlin; † 19. September 1995 in Oxford) war ein deutsch britischer Physiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 2 Ehrungen 3 Schriften …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peierls — Peierls,   Sir (seit 1968) Rudolf Ernst, britischer Physiker deutscher Herkunft, * Berlin 5. 6. 1907, ✝ Oxford 19. 9. 1995; Professor in Birmingham (ab 1937), Oxford (ab 1963) und Seattle (1974 77). Peierls arbeitete v. a. an der Anwendung der… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Пайерлс, Рудольф Эрнст — Рудольф Эрнст Пайерлс sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls 1937 Дата рождения: 5 июня 1907(1907 06 05) …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”