Otto Stern was born in Sorau, Upper Silesia, Germany, on February
17, 1888. In 1892 he moved with his parents to Breslau, where he attended high school. He
began to study physical chemistry in 1906, receiving his Ph.D. degree from the University
of Breslau in 1912. In the same year he joined Einstein at the University of Prague and
later followed him to the University of Zurich, where he
became Privatdocent of Physical Chemistry at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in
1913.
In 1914 he went to the University of Frankfurt am
Main as Privatdocent of Theoretical Physics, remaining there until 1921, except for a
period of military service. From 1921 to 1922 he was Associate Professor of Theoretical
Physics at the University of Rostock, becoming,
in 1923, Professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of the laboratory at the University of Hamburg, where he remained until 1933.
In that year he moved to the United States, being appointed Research Professor of Physics
at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh
where he remained until 1945, then becoming professor emeritus.
His earliest work was in the field of theoretical physics, especially that of statistical
thermodynamics and quantum theory, on which he has published important papers. After 1919,
his attention was directed more to experimental physics. His development and application
of the molecular beam method proved to be a powerful tool for investigating the properties
of molecules, atoms and atomic nuclei. One of the early applications of this was the
experimental verification of Maxwell's law of velocity distribution in gases. He
collaborated with Gerlach to work on the deflection of atoms by the action of magnetic
fields on their magnetic moment, then went on to measure the magnetic moments of
sub-atomic particles, including the proton. His work on the production of interference by
rays of hydrogen and helium was a striking demonstration of the wave nature of atoms and
molecules.
Dr. Stern was awarded an LL.D. by the University of
California, Berkeley, 1930. He is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences (USA), the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, and the Philosophical Society. He holds foreign membership
of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. He lives at Berkeley, California until 1969.
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Bron: Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942-1962.