James Franck

James Franck was born on August 26, 1882, in Hamburg, Germany. He was a physicist who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1925 alongside Gustav Hertz for their work on the laws governing the impact of electrons on atoms, known as the Franck-Hertz experiment. Franck contributions to physics, particularly his work on quantum theory and atomic physics, have had a lasting impact.

In 1925, James Franck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Gustav Hertz, for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom. This experimental result is fundamentally known as the Franck-Hertz experiment and was pivotal in the development of quantum mechanics, providing evidence of quantized energy levels in atoms.

In 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, James Franck resigned from his position at the University of Göttingen in protest against the Nazi regime's policies. Franck, who was of Jewish heritage, made a principled stand against the anti-Semitic laws being enacted, which would have forced him out due to the discrimination laws, but he chose to resign voluntarily.

In 1938, amidst increasing persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, James Franck emigrated to the United States. He took up a position at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His emigration was part of a broader exodus of scientists from Europe during this time, as the political situation deteriorated and the Nazi regime increasingly targeted intellectuals who were Jewish or opposed to their ideologies.

The Franck Report was drafted by a group of scientists, including James Franck, in 1945, and it recommended that the United States warn Japan about the atomic bomb before using it and demonstrate its power in an uninhabited area. Franck, who was deeply concerned about the ethical implications of nuclear weapons, played a key role in the development and presentation of this report.

James Franck passed away on May 21, 1964, in Göttingen, West Germany. He had returned there after retirement, although during his career, he had made significant contributions to physics both in Germany and the United States. Franck's work in quantum physics, especially the Franck-Hertz experiment and his later contributions, left a lasting impact on the physics community.