Max Born

Max Born was a German-British physicist and mathematician who made significant contributions to the fields of quantum mechanics, solid-state physics, and optics. He was one of the founders of the modern theory of the atomic structure and the statistical interpretation of the wave function, which is known as the Born rule. He also developed several mathematical methods and concepts that are widely used in physics, such as the Born approximation, the Born coordinates, the Born equation, the Born probability, the Born reciprocity, the Born rigidity, the Born series, the Born square, the Born–Landé equation, the Born–Infeld theory, and the Born–Haber cycle. He supervised and collaborated with many eminent physicists in the 1920s and 1930s, such as Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Pascual Jordan, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, Enrico Fermi, and Max Delbrück. He received numerous honors and awards for his scientific achievements, including the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954. He was also a pacifist and a humanist who opposed fascism and nationalism. He was forced to flee Germany in 1933 due to his Jewish ancestry and his criticism of the Nazi regime. He settled in Britain and became a naturalized British citizen in 1939. He worked at the University of Edinburgh until his retirement in 1952. He then moved to Bad Pyrmont in West Germany and died in Göttingen in 1970 at the age of 87. He was married to Hedwig Ehrenberg, a fellow German-Jewish refugee and a descendant of Martin Luther. They had three children: Irene, Gustav Victor Rudolf, and Margarete. His grandchildren include Olivia Newton-John, an Australian singer and actress; Gustav Newton-John, an Australian race car driver; Georgina Born, a British academic and musician; and Tania Mallet, a British model and actress. His great-grandchildren include Chloe Lattanzi, an American singer and actress; Ben Newton-John, an Australian race car driver; and Emerson Newton-John, an American race car driver. Max Born was a prolific writer who published several books and articles on physics, mathematics, philosophy, history, and social issues. Some of his notable works are The Restless Universe (1935), Natural Philosophy of Cause and Chance (1949), Atomic Physics (1935), The Statistical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (1954), Physics in My Generation (1956), My Life: Recollections of a Nobel Laureate (1978), and The Born-Einstein Letters (1971). He was also a friend and correspondent of Albert Einstein, with whom he had a long-standing scientific and philosophical dialogue. Max Born was a remarkable scientist and a remarkable human being who left a lasting legacy in both science and society.