James Franck

James Franck (German: [ˈdʒɛɪ̯ms ˈfʁaŋk] ⓘ; 26 August 1882 – 21 May 1964) was a German-American <a href="/facts/Physicist/cQcgvSIm">physicist</a> who received the 1925 <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics/o6w1nCbr">Nobel Prize in Physics</a> with <a href="/facts/Gustav_Hertz/uudggEgb">Gustav Hertz</a> "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an <a href="/facts/Electron/L0KBo5cW">electron</a> upon an <a href="/facts/Atom/69syB8dH">atom</a>". He completed his <a href="/facts/Doctorate/hb3AGQ6A">doctorate</a> in 1906 and his <a href="/facts/Habilitation/VSEhfx78">habilitation</a> in 1911 at the <a href="/facts/Humboldt_University_of_Berlin/QE2lhhkd">Frederick William University</a> in Berlin, where he lectured and taught until 1918, having reached the position of <a href="/facts/Academic_ranks_in_Germany/YPF5jSCp">professor extraordinarius</a>. He served as a volunteer in the German Army during <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>. He was seriously injured in 1917 in a gas attack and was awarded the <a href="/facts/Iron_Cross/Wh9hYXbC">Iron Cross</a> 1st Class.
Franck became the Head of the Physics Division of the <a href="/facts/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Institute/FeQcYSho">Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft</a> for Physical Chemistry. In 1920, Franck became <a href="/facts/Professor_ordinarius/YPF5jSCp">professor ordinarius</a> of experimental physics and Director of the Second Institute for Experimental Physics at the <a href="/facts/University_of_G%25C3%25B6ttingen/UTUodvX1">University of Göttingen</a>. While there he worked on <a href="/facts/Quantum_physics/BRc3Mzgr">quantum physics</a> with <a href="/facts/Max_Born/6VnUDWhA">Max Born</a>, who was Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics. His work included the <a href="/facts/Franck%25E2%2580%2593Hertz_experiment/I0RYd51S">Franck–Hertz experiment</a>, an important confirmation of the <a href="/facts/Bohr_model/FmTHjaxy">Bohr model</a> of the <a href="/facts/Atom/69syB8dH">atom</a>. He promoted the careers of women in physics, notably <a href="/facts/Lise_Meitner/BH51ypJ2">Lise Meitner</a>, <a href="/facts/Hertha_Sponer/N1jsfjSh">Hertha Sponer</a> and <a href="/facts/Hilde_Levi/ax1IbFAx">Hilde Levi</a>.
After the <a href="/facts/Nazi_Party/qQCramHd">Nazi Party</a> came to power in Germany in 1933, Franck resigned his post in protest against the dismissal of fellow academics. He assisted <a href="/facts/Frederick_Lindemann/oh1J9IjK">Frederick Lindemann</a> in helping dismissed Jewish scientists find work overseas, before he left Germany in November 1933. After a year at the <a href="/facts/Niels_Bohr_Institute/UX753VqM">Niels Bohr Institute</a> in <a href="/facts/Denmark/KVtykzsw">Denmark</a>, he moved to the United States, where he worked at <a href="/facts/Johns_Hopkins_University/56US0mHw">Johns Hopkins University</a> in <a href="/facts/Baltimore/ncJvTzBU">Baltimore</a> and then the <a href="/facts/University_of_Chicago/z6zRMUmV">University of Chicago</a>. During this period he became interested in <a href="/facts/Photosynthesis/TMV7w693">photosynthesis</a>.
Franck participated in the <a href="/facts/Manhattan_Project/gtg8yRK2">Manhattan Project</a> during <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> as Director of the Chemistry Division of the <a href="/facts/Metallurgical_Laboratory/oL5Rf9Lg">Metallurgical Laboratory</a>. He was also the chairman of the Committee on Political and Social Problems regarding the atomic bomb, which is best known for the compilation of the <a href="/facts/Franck_Report/IoatGCNp">Franck Report</a>, which recommended that the <a href="/facts/Atomic_bomb/QVdBcMdm">atomic bombs</a> not be used on the Japanese cities without warning.

James Franck open-in-new

James Franck