top of page
- When/Where He Lived -
Hans Geiger was born in Neustadt an-der-Haardt (now Neustadt an-der-Weinstrasse) a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on September 30, 1882. He died at Potsdam, Germany on September 24, 1945. Hans Geiger was lived throught Europe in places like Munich, Germany, Berlin, Germany, Manchester, England.
German Physicist
- Personal Facts -
Hans Gieger was the eldest of five children. (two boys and three girls). His father was a professor of philology. During World War I he served as an artillery officer in German Army and after the war he developed painful rheumatism, which is a severe form of arthritis that causes a painful swelling of the joints in the finger.
He was a conservative during World War II. In 1920, Geiger married Elisabeth Heffter, with whom he had three sons
- Important Historical Happening During Their Work/Life -
Word War I:
- In 1914, Geiger returned to Germany, initially to take charge of radiation research at the country’s National Institute for Science and Technology. But the outbreak of World War I put a damper on science: he served as an artillery officer with the German army instead. The harsh conditions in the trenches on the front lines took their toll: Geiger developed painful rheumatism, which plagued him for the rest of his life.
World War II:
- He became involved with politics after Adolf Hitler's (1889–1945) rise to power in Germany's National Socialist Party. Geiger and many other scientists did not want the government to interfere with or influence their work. He helped compose a position paper that was signed by seventy-five of Germany's most notable physicists. The paper was presented to Hitler's Education Ministry in late 1936. The document urged the government to keep its hands off science, complaining that there were too few new physicists and that students were avoiding the subject in Germany because of newspaper attacks on physics by National Socialists.
- However, during WWII (1939-1945), Hans Geiger was a part of the Uranium Club which was a program led by Germany to create and produce atomic weapons for World War II. This program failed create the atom bomb.
bottom of page