Hans Bethe

Hans Bethe
Born	Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906-07-02)July 2, 1906 Strasbourg, Alsace–Lorraine, Germany
Died	March 6, 2005(2005-03-06) (aged 98) Ithaca, New York, U.S.
Nationality	German American
Alma mater	University of Frankfurt University of Munich
Known for	Nuclear physics Stellar nucleosynthesis Quantum electrodynamics Cavity perturbation theory Crystal field theory Bethe–Salpeter equation Bethe-Slater curve Bethe formula Bethe-Heitler formula Bethe–Feynman formula Mott-Bethe formula Bethe lattice Bethe ansatz Bethe–Weizsäcker formula Bethe–Weizsäcker process
Spouse	Rose Ewald ​ (m. 1939)​
Awards	1939 A. Cressy Morrison Prize 1947 Henry Draper Medal 1957 ForMemRS[1] 1959 Franklin Medal 1961 Eddington Medal 1961 Enrico Fermi Award 1963 Rumford Prize 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics 1975 Nat'l Medal of Science 1989 Lomonosov Gold Medal 1993 Oersted Medal 2001 Bruce Medal 2005 Benjamin Franklin Medal
Scientific career
Fields	Nuclear physics
Institutions	University of Tübingen Cornell University University of Bristol University of Manchester University of Chicago
Thesis	Theorie der Beugung von Elektronen an Kristallen (1928)
Doctoral advisor	Arnold Sommerfeld
Doctoral students	Michel Baranger David B. Beard Hildred Blewett Peter A. Carruthers Ajoy Ghatak Asoke Nath Mitra Jeffrey Goldstone Roman Jackiw Francis E. Low Robert Eugene Marshak Walter McAfee Boyce McDaniel Michael Nauenberg John W. Negele Mark Nelkin Ramamurti Rajaraman J. J. Sakurai Gordon Shaw [it] David J. Thouless
Other notable students	Freeman Dyson
Signature

Hans Albrecht Bethe (German pronunciation: [ˈhans ˈbeːtə] ^ⓘ; July 2, 1906 – March 6, 2005) was a German-American theoretical physicist who made major contributions to nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics, and solid-state physics, and who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis.^[1][2] For most of his career, Bethe was a professor at Cornell University.^[3]

During World War II, he was head of the Theoretical Division at the secret Los Alamos laboratory that developed the first atomic bombs. There he played a key role in calculating the critical mass of the weapons and developing the theory behind the implosion method used in both the Trinity test and the "Fat Man" weapon dropped on Nagasaki in August 1945.

After the war, Bethe also played an important role in the development of the hydrogen bomb, although he had originally joined the project with the hope of proving it could not be made. Bethe later campaigned with Albert Einstein and the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists against nuclear testing and the nuclear arms race. He helped persuade the Kennedy and Nixon administrations to sign, respectively, the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (SALT I).

His scientific research never ceased and he was publishing papers well into his nineties, making him one of the few scientists to have published at least one major paper in his field during every decade of his career, which in Bethe's case spanned nearly seventy years. Freeman Dyson, once his doctoral student, called him the "supreme problem-solver of the 20th century".^[4]