Hans Albrecht Bethe* (1906-2005 )

7/12/1906, Born Strasbourg, Alsace Lorraine (then Germany), a brown hair, blue eyed German.
Father, University physiologist, a Prussian Protestant.
Mother, daughter of Jewish Strasbourg physician.
Family, moved from Strasbourg to Kiel to Frankfurt for father’s appointments.


1915-1924, Early education was in a Gymnasium in Frankfurt where he excelled in science and math.
1924-26, U. Frankfurt, Physics major.  After he displayed a gift for theoretical work his advisor recommended working with Sommerfeld at Munich.
1926-28, U. Munich. Ph.D., 7/1928 (Sommerfeld)
1928, U. Frankfort, U. Stuttgart, Instructor-Phys.
1929-33, U. Munich, Privatdozent, 1930.
1930 Fall, Cambridge U., (Rockefeller. Fellow)
1931-32 Spring, U. Rome. (Rockefeller Fellow)
11/1932, U. Tubingen, Acting Asst. Prof. Theor. Physics. In 1933 he lost his position because of his mother’s Jewish descent.  Applied to Geiger, then Director of Experimental Physics department and got rebuffed.   Sommerfeld accepted him back at Munich.
1933-34, Emigrated to England. Spent time as Lecturer at U. Manchester and U. Bristol and in Copenhagen with Bohr.
1934, Developed theory of Deuteron with Peierls
2/1935-43, Cornell U. Recommended by former student on Cornell faculty.  Appointed Asst. Prof., Full Professor, 1937.  Became a highly respected teacher and theoretical physicist of the highest rank.
1935-38, Developed theory of nuclear reactions that led to 3 lengthy review articles on nuclear physics, which became known as the “Bethe Bible”, a basic text for nuclear physicists.
9/1938, Discovered the nuclear reactions that supply energy to stars and the exclusion of other possible reactions.
1939, with the invasion of France, started to become involved in military work
1940, Developed a basic theory of armor penetration
1940, With Teller, extended and clarified shock wave theory.
1941, Granted U.S. citizenship
1942, Radiation Lab, MIT, worked on Radar.
1942 Summer, Recruited by Oppenheimer for study on the atomic bomb.
7/1943, Director, Theoretical Section, Los Alamos. Selected over Teller because of being steadier and more directed which eventually led to Teller leaving the atom bomb project for H-bomb work.
10/1946, Returned to Cornell U.
1947, Explained the Lamb shift in Hydrogen spectrum, which laid the foundation for modern quantum electrodynamics.








1967, Nobel Prize, “for contribution to the theory of nuclear reactions especially the discoveries concerning the energy production in stars”.
1975, Cornell U., Professor Emeritus

Bethe was an accomplished theorist who had published at an early age and developed the foundation theory of nuclear reactions in quantum theory.  As a young man, he was tall, sturdy, brown hair, blue eyed, brush cut with Germanic features who did not look at himself as a Jew. Therefore he was devastated to lose his professor position at Tubingen because of Hitler’s anti-Semitic laws.  However, his career blossomed in the U.S. and he made a significant effort to the atomic bomb program.  He was an excellent and respected teacher who produced many notable PhDs.

Hideki Yukawa * (1907-81)

1/23/1907, Born, Tokyo, 3rd son.
Father, Takuji, Professor of Geology, Kyoto U.


Raised in Kyoto and attended local schools.














1924-29, Kyoto U., Graduated 1929.








1932-34, Kyoto U., Lecturer
1935-39, Osaka U., Assistant Professor
1935, Paper “On interaction of elementary particles” which proposed a new field theory of nuclear forces that predicted existence of mesons.
1937, Mesons discovered in cosmic rays.
1938, Ph.D. degree awarded, Osaka U.
1939, Kyoto U., Professor of Theoretical Physics.







1948, Institute for Advanced Studies.

1949-53, Columbia University, Visiting Professor.
1949, Nobel Prize, “For the prediction of the existence of the meson on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces”.



Yukawa was the first Japanese to become a Nobel Laureate.























1981, Died.