The history of the Goethe University Frankfurt is closely linked to the history of today's department of physics. In addition to the patrons of Frankfurt who founded the university in 1914, the Physikalischer Verein, which had been established in 1824, also became a co-founder and donated a number of research institutes and buildings to the new academic institution. In 1908, the Physikalischer Verein moved into its new building in Frankfurt-Bockenheim, which also housed the department of physics until it moved to the Riedberg campus. This building, which now belongs to the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, accommodated not only the institute of physics but also a chemical institute, an electrical engineering institute, a meteorological institute, and an observatory for the astronomy department, which is still in operation today. The Physikalischer Verein can therefore be regarded as the foundation of the physics department at Goethe University.
Public Domain
Public Domain
The first professors of physics appointed to the young university were Richard Wachsmuth (experimental physics), who also became the first rector, and Max von Laue (theoretical physics). With Max von Laue, the university gained a great personality and an excellent scientist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Frankfurt in 1915 (in retrospect for 1914). Max Born, Otto Stern, Hans Bethe, Gerd Binnig, Horst Störmer, and Peter Grünberg followed him to date, all of whom are significant Nobel Prize winners who have been active in the department and in Frankfurt.
Otto Stern, who developed the fundamentals of the molecular beam method in Frankfurt and conducted the world-famous “Stern-Gerlach- experiment” together with Walther Gerlach in 1922, deserves special mention here. With this experiment, the two physicists laid the foundation for the development of modern quantum physics, a milestone in physics.
Privatarchiv von Horst Schmidt-Böcking
Privatarchiv von Horst Schmidt-Böcking
Would you like to learn more about the history of the department of physics? Have a look here:
100 Jahre Physik an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main 1914 - 2014
Klaus Bethge und Claudia Freudenberger, Hrsg.
Frankfurt Academic Press, 2014
ISBN 978-3-86983-010-0