Nobel Prize

I was born on 25 December 1906 in Heidelberg as the fifth of seven children of Professor Julius Ruska and his wife Elisbeth (née Merx). After graduating from grammar school in Heidelberg I studied electronics at the Technical College in Munich, studies which I began in the autumn of 1925 and continued two years later…

I was born in Frankfurt, W. Germany, on 7.20., ’47 as the first of two sons. My childhood was very much influenced by the Second World War, which had only just ended. We children had great fun playing among the ruins of the demolished buildings, but naturally were too young to realize that much more…

I was born in Buchs, St. Gallen, Switzerland on 6.6., ’33 as the third child, half an hour after my twin sister. We were fortunate to enjoy a carefree childhood with a sound mixture of freedom, school and farm work. In 1949, the family moved to Zürich and our way of life changed from country…

I was born in Neuenkirchen, North-Rhine Westphalia, in the Federal Republic of Germany on May 16, 1950, as the fourth child of Anton and Elisabeth Bednorz. My parents, originating from Silesia, had lost sight of each other during the turbulences of World War II, when my sister and two brothers had to leave home and…

I was born in Basel, Switzerland, on 20th April 1927. The first years of my life were spent with my parents in Salzburg, Austria, where my father was studying music. Hereafter, my mother and I moved to Dornach near Basle to the home of my grandparents, and from there to Lugano in the italian-speaking part…

New York City in the period of 1922 to 1979 provided the streets, schools, entertainment, culture and ethnic diversity for many future scientists. I was born in New York on July 15, 1922 of immigrant parents. My father, Morris, operated a hand laundry and venerated learning. Brother Paul, six years older, was a tinkerer of…

Having been born in 1932, at the peak of the great depression, I grew up in difficult times. My parents worked extraordinarily hard to give us economic stability but at the same time they managed to instill in me two qualities which became the foundation of my personal and professional life. One is an unbounded…

I was born in Bad Kissingen (Franconia) in 1921. At that time my father, Ludwig, was 45 years old. He was one of twelve children of a rural ‘Viehhändler’ (small-time cattle dealer). Since the age of eighteen he had been cantor and religious teacher for the little Jewish community, a job he still held when…

Wilhelm Wien was born on January 13, 1864 at Fischhausen, in East Prussia. He was the son of the landowner Carl Wien, and seemed destined for the life of a gentleman farmer, but an economic crisis and his own secret sense of vocation led him to University studies. When in 1866 his parents moved to…

Charles Glover Barkla was born on June 7, 1877 at Widnes, Lancashire, England, where his father, J.M. Barkla, was Secretary to the Atlas Chemical Company. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute and entered University College, Liverpool, in 1894 to study mathematics and physics, the latter under Oliver Lodge. He graduated with First Class Honours…