Max Theodor Felix von Laue
1879–1960, Pfaffendorf, near Koblenz, German Empire, Berlin, West Germany
German physicist who demonstrated X-ray diffraction by crystals, established the wave nature of X-rays, and opened the way to X-ray crystallography; 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Von Laue was born in Pfaffendorf near Koblenz, then part of the German Empire, and studied physics at the universities of Strasbourg, Göttingen, Munich, and Berlin. In 1912 he proposed using crystals as diffraction gratings for X-rays. Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping carried out experiments based on his proposal and observed characteristic diffraction spots; the results demonstrated the wave nature of X-rays with very short wavelengths and the periodic structure of crystals.
He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of X-ray diffraction by crystals. His work launched two complementary lines of research: using crystals to determine X-ray wavelengths and using X-rays to investigate crystal structures. He continued research at several German universities and, after the war, became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin.
Nobel-winning work
Von Laue won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics 'for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals'. In 1912 he proposed that a crystal's regular lattice could act as a three-dimensional diffraction grating for X-rays; Friedrich and Knipping's experiment confirmed the Laue spots. The result proved X-rays are electromagnetic waves and launched X-ray crystallography — the Braggs' analysis of crystal structure followed directly.
Workplaces: University of Munich, University of Frankfurt, University of Berlin
Germany