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Born, Max, 1882-1970 (physicist)

 Person

Biography

Max Born was born in Wroclaw, Poland (which was then Breslau, Germany), on 11 December 1882. He was educated at the Gymnasium and at the University in his home city, and he also studied at the Universities of Heidelberg, Zuerich, Goettingen (where he obtained the degree of D.Phil.), and Cambridge. Prior to his arrival in Britain in 1933 when he fled the growing danger of racial and political persecution in Nazi Germany, Born had been Professor at the Universities of Berlin, Frankfurt-am-Main, and Goettingen. At Cambridge he held the post of Stokes Lecturer of Applied Mathematics. In 1936, he was appointed to the Chair of Natural Philosophy with special reference to Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh University. In 1939 he became a British subject. His work on Relativity and on various aspects of Atomic Structure had already earned him international renown and while at Edinburgh he continued to extend the literature of his science. Born retired in 1953, and in 1954 he was the joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics. With Walther Bothe (1891-1957) of the University of Heidelberg, Born had been awarded the Prize for the statistical formulation of the behaviour of subatomic particles. His studies of the wave function led to the replacement of the original quantum theory (which regarded electrons as particles) with an essentially mathematical description representing their observed behaviour more accurately. His publications include The constitution of matter, modern atomic and electron theories (Eng. tr. 1923), Einstein's theory of relativity (Eng. tr. 1924), The restless universe (1935), The natural philosophy of cause and chance (1949), Physics in my generation: a selection of papers (1956), and Recollections of Max Born (1965). Professor Max Born died in Goettingen on 5 January 1970.

Found in 7 Collections and/or Records:

Correspondence from Max Born and R.L. Borrow to Edward Appleton, 1958, 1934

 File
Identifier: Coll-37/E.18
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Max Born to Edward Appleton, dated 1958 and from R.L. Borrow to Edward Appleton, dated 1934. The material from Borrow relates to radio echoes.

Dates: 1958, 1934

Correspondence from N. Kemmer to Edward Appleton, 1956

 File
Identifier: Coll-37/E.57
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from E. Kemmer to Edward Appleton, dated 1956. The material relates to Max Born's book on the atomic bomb project.

Dates: 1956

Papers of Professor Max Born

 Fonds — Multiple Containers
Identifier: Coll-309
Content Description

3 items:


  1. Original manuscript in German of The restless universe, c 1930. [Dk.7.50]
  2. DVD (content not yet identified). [E.2006.32]
  3. Chinar wooden box presented to Born by students and admirers on 14 March 1936. [E.2007.09]
Dates: Majority of material found within c 1930-1936

Papers of Professor Norman Kemp Smith

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-1038
Scope and Contents

The Papers of Professor Norman Kemp Smith include letters, notebooks, and papers. Included among his correspondents are Woodrow Wilson and Max Born. There are notebooks of philosophical lectures, offprints of articles, notes, drafts, pocket diaries, testimonials, personalia, and photographs.

Dates: circa 1908-1957

Professor Max Born, c mid-20th century

 Item
Identifier: Coll-1716/1/61
Scope and Contents

Glass slide showing a portrait of Max Born (photograph).

Dates: c mid-20th century

Rutherford, Fowler, Born, Tyndall, Langevin, Eddington, and Bragg, c mid-20th century

 Item
Identifier: Coll-1716/1/19
Scope and Contents

Glass slide showing a group portrait of Ernest Rutherford, Fowler, Max Born, Tyndall, Paul Langevin, Eddington, and W. H. Bragg (photograph). Fruther identifying details on Tyndall and Eddington are unknown.

Dates: c mid-20th century

Slides of Professor Max Born

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-1716
Scope and Contents This collection consists of the glass slides of Max Born, Chair of Natural Philosophy with special reference to Mathematical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, and joint Nobel Prize winner. The slides were possibly used as a teaching aid.Labels on drawers: "Portaits" (photographic portraits of physicists), "Nuclei, Radiation, Fundamental Particles", "Crystals", "Quantum Theory", "Miscellaenous" (x2), "Thermodynamics", "Negatives". Four drawers are unlabelled. Except for the...
Dates: c mid-20th century