German Physicist and Professor. A leading German physicist and former pupil of Max Planck, Max von Laue was born in Pfaffendorf, near Coblenz, on 9 October 1879. Professor of Theoretical Physics at Zurich (1912 - 14), Frankfurt (1914 - 19) and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Berlin (1919 - 43), von Laue's pioneering work in X - ray crystallography won him fame and the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1914. His research into the diffraction of X - rays in crystals was the starting point of much subsequent work in the field. Deputy director of the Max Planck Institute of Physics (1921 - 51) he used his influence where possible to counter the Nazi policy of dismissals after 1933, regretting as he did the loss to Germany of so many outstanding Jewish scientists. In January 1934, he courageously paid tribute to the Nobel Prize winner Fritz Haber, a victim of the racial purge, in two widely read scientific journals - an action which earned him an official reprimand from the Ministry of Education. Von Laue was one of the most active opponents of Johannes Stark, the leader of the 'Aryan Physics' school who sought to realign modern physics with national Socialist ideology. Convinced that political interference would destroy the standards and effectiveness of German science, von Laue successfully opposed Stark's election to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Von Laue's eminence, his age and his patriotism protected him during the Third Reich in spite of his uncompromising independence and refusal to co - operate with the Nazis. In a letter to Max Born in 1944, Albert Einstein observed that what distinguished von Laue from other scientists who remained in the Third Reich was his human stature. 'It was particularly interesting in his case to observe how he tore himself loose step by step from the traditions of the herd under the effect of a strong feeling of justice.' After the collapse of Nazi Germany, von Laue was a witness in several de - Nazification trials. He was responsible for re - establishing the laboratories of the Imperial Institute of Physics and Technology and participated actively in the reconstruction of German cultural life. He died in Berlin on 23 April 1960.
