Paul Scherrer

Infobox Scientist
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name = Paul Scherrer


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caption = Paul Scherrer (1890-1969)
birth_date = February 3, 1890
birth_place = Herisau, Switzerland
death_date = September 25, 1969
death_place = Zürich, Switzerland
residence = flag|Switzerland
citizenship =
nationality = flag|Switzerland|name=Swiss
ethnicity =
fields = Physicist
workplaces = ETH Zurich
University of Göttingen
alma_mater = ETH Zurich
University of Göttingen
doctoral_advisor =
academic_advisors =
doctoral_students = Hans Frauenfelder
notable_students =
known_for = Debye-Scherrer method
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influences =
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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.

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.

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. [Nicholas Dawidoff, "The Catcher Was a Spy", Vintage, 1994. ISBN 0679762892. "passim.", but especially p. 202 "et. seq."]

Legacy

In 1988, two Swiss nuclear research institutes were combined to form the Paul Scherrer Institute, which is based near Villigen, in Canton Aargau.

Notes

See also

*ETH Zurich
*Paul Scherrer Institute
*Powder diffraction