American Jewish Recipients of the Nobel Prize

Otto Stern: Nobel Prize in
Physics Recipient-1943
by Seymour “Sy” Brody

Otto Stern was an American Jewish recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1943, for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton.

He was born on February 17, 1988, in Sorau, Upper Silesia, Germany. His parents moved the family to Breslau, where he attended high school. In 1906, he enrolled in the University of Breslau. He earned his doctoral degree in physical chemistry, in 1912.

Otto Stern became a teacher: Privatdozent, Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule, in 1912. The next year, he took another position as teacher: Privatdpzent, University of Frankfurt. In 1921-1922, Stern was an Associate Professor at the University of Rostoc. In 1923-1933, he was a Professor of Physical Chemistry, at the University of Hamburg.

Stern then took a position in the United States at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1933-1945. He became a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.

He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and membership in the Philosophical Society. He had foreign membership in the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Otto Stern died on August 17, 1969, in Berkeley, California.

For additional information, contact
Special Collections and Archives
S.E. Wimberly Library

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