Hans Bethe AKA Hans Albrecht Bethe Born: 2-Jul-1906 Birthplace: Strassburg, Germany Died: 6-Mar-2005 Location of death: Ithaca, NY Cause of death: Natural Causes
Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Physicist Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States Executive summary: Atomic scientist Hans Bethe (pronounced beta) earned his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Munich in 1928, and in 1932 became an assistant professor at Tübingen University in lovely Tübingen, Germany. Bethe had been raised in a Christian household, but his mother had been born Jewish, so as Hitler rose to power, Bethe's career evaporated. After a few years in Britain, Bethe joined the faculty at Cornell University in New York. He became an American citizen in 1941.
His study of the carbon-nitrogen cycle in bright stars and the proton-proton reaction in fainter stars won him a Nobel Prize. Bethe was invited to work on the Manhattan Project, developing the atomic bomb, and he was skeptical about whether it could be built, but he felt he owed it to his adopted homeland. He was named head of project's Theoretical Division, and they designed a bomb that did indeed work.
Upon seeing the effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, Bethe immediately became an activist for nuclear disarmament. He wrote of the futility of the so-called "Star Wars" missile defense system, and worked with the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, the Federation of American Scientists, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Until his death, Bethe continued to use a slide rule, instead of a calculator.
Father: Albrecht Bethe (Professor of physiology) Mother: Anna Kuhn Wife: Rose Ewald (daughter of Prof. P.P. Ewald; m. 1939, one son, one daughter) Son: Henry Daughter: Monica
University: University of Frankfurt University: PhD Physics, University of Munich (1928) Professor: University of Tübingen (-1933) Professor: Cornell University (1937-75, emeritus thereafter)
Manhattan Project American Philosophical Society American Physical Society President (1954) American Astronomical Society Bill Bradley for President Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Board of Directors Council for a Livable World Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Federation of American Scientists JASON National Academy of Sciences Royal Society Foreign Member Henry Draper Medal 1947 Max Planck Medal 1955 Enrico Fermi Award 1961 Eddington Medal 1961 Rumford Prize 1963 Nobel Prize for Physics 1967 APS Leo Szilard Award 1981 (with Henry W. Kendall)
Vannevar Bush Award 1985 Oersted Medal 1993 Bruce Medal 2001 National Medal of Science Naturalized US Citizen 1941
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR The Day After Trinity (20-Jan-1981) · Himself
Author of books:
Elementary Nuclear Theory (1948, physics)
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