Paul Scherrer

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For other uses, see Paul Scherrer (disambiguation).
Paul Scherrer
Born
Paul Hermann Scherrer

3 February 1890
St. Gallen, Switzerland
Died25 September 1969 (1969-09-26) (aged 79)
Zürich, Switzerland
NationalitySwiss
Alma materSwiss Federal Polytechnic
University of Göttingen
Known forDebye–Scherrer method
Scherrer equation
AwardsMarcel Benoist Prize (1943)
Honoris Causa doctorate by the Complutense University of Madrid (1966)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysicist
InstitutionsETH Zurich
University of Göttingen
Doctoral advisorPeter Debye
Doctoral studentsFelix Boehm
Egon Bretscher
Hans Frauenfelder
Bernd T. Matthias[1]
Julius Adams Stratton
Fritz Zwicky

Paul Hermann Scherrer (3 February 1890 – 25 September 1969) was a Swiss physicist. Born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, he studied at Göttingen, Germany, before becoming a lecturer there. Later, Scherrer became head of the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich.[2][3][4][5]

Early life and studies

Paul Scherrer was born in

X-rays for the structural analysis of crystals. This made an important contribution to the development of the scattering techniques that are still used in the large facilities at the Paul Scherrer Institute to this day. Debye received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work in 1936.[7]

He is perhaps best known for determining the inverse relationship between the width of an x-ray diffraction peak and the crystallite size. This work was published in 1918.[8]

ETH Zurich appointed Scherrer to the post of Professor of Experimental Physics in 1920, at the early age of 30. In 1925, he organised the first international conference of physicists to take place after the

First World War.[9]
He became Principal of the Physical Institute at ETH in 1927 and focused its direction on nuclear physics, a research branch that was still coming into being at that stage. The first cyclotron at ETH Zurich was built under his direction in 1940.

Nuclear and atomic physics

Main article: Switzerland and weapons of mass destruction

Beginning in late 1944, Scherrer became close to

member of the Swiss Federal Council
and head of the Swiss military department.

In parallel with his main professional occupation as a researcher and leader of an institution, Paul Scherrer also served in various institutions and committees involved in the dissemination of nuclear energy in

Swiss Federal Council
appointed him to the post of President of the Swiss Study Commission on Atomic Energy (Schweizerischen Studienkommission für Atomenergie) in 1946, and President of the Swiss Commission for Atomic Sciences in 1958.

In addition, Scherrer took part in establishing CERN near Geneva in 1952–54.[13] When established he became one of the original members of the Scientific Policy Committee, at which he served until the end of 1963,[14] and the CERN Council. Furthermore he participated to set up Reaktor AG, to study the construction and operation of nuclear fission facilities one year later, in Würenlingen.[15]

His abilities and foresight led to the early development of new branches of solid-state physics, particle physics and electronics, which made a vital contribution to the high standard of research at Swiss universities. When Paul Scherrer was made emeritus professor in 1960, after 40 years at ETH Zurich, he took up a teaching appointment at the University of Basel and his former students and friends put together a Festschrift.[16]

Private life

The Scherrer family tomb: Paul Scherrer, his wife Ina Sonderegger, and their daughters Ines Jucker and Renate Theiler at Friedhof Fluntern in Zürich.

In 1922 Scherrer married Ina Sonderegger, with whom he had two daughters.[17]

He died on 25 September 1969 after a horse-riding accident.

Legacy

Main article: Paul Scherrer Institute

The eponymous

canton of Aargau
, was established January 1, 1988 by merging the 1960 established EIR (Eidgenössisches Institut für Reaktorforschung, Federal Institute for Reactor Research) and the 1968 established SIN (Schweizerisches Institut für Nuklearphysik, Swiss Institute for Nuclear Physics) with Professor Jean-Pierre Blaser (SIN founder) named its first director.

There is a street, Route Scherrer, named after Scherrer at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.

References

  1. OCLC 4636531057
    . Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b Huber, P. (1969). "Paul Scherrer: 1890-1969". Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft. Wissenschaftlicher und Administrativer Teil (in German). 149: 284–289.
  3. ^ Mercier, R. (1970). "Paul Scherrer-Sonderegger (1890-1969)". Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles (in French). 70 (7): 345.
  4. ^ Kant, Horst (2005). "Neue Deutsche Biographie 22 (2005), pp. 704-705: Scherrer, Paul". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  5. OCLC 1372362197.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  6. ^ Scherrer, Paul (1916). Die Rotationsdispersion des Wasserstoffs : Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Konstitution des Wasserstoffmoleküls) (in German). Göttingen: Göttingen Univ.
  7. ^ "Peter Debye Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1936". www.uzh.ch. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  8. ^ Scherrer, Paul (1918). "Bestimmung der Größe und der inneren Struktur von Kolloidteilchen mittels Röntgenstrahlen". Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse. 1918: 98–100.
  9. ^ "Who is Paul Scherrer? | About PSI | Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)". psi.ch. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  10. ISBN 0-679-76289-2
    . passim., but especially p. 202 et. seq.
  11. ^ Rob Edwards (1996-05-25). "Swiss planned a nuclear bomb". New Scientist. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
  12. ^ "Was aus 50-jährigem Schweizer Plan geworden ist: Atommacht Schweiz - NZZ". Archived from the original on 2016-01-21.
  13. ^ Funke, Gösta (1969). "Tribute to Professor Scherrer". CERN Courier. 9 (12): 375.
  14. ^ CERN Annual report 1963. Geneva: CERN. 1964. p. 16.
  15. doi:10.5169/seals-81386
    . Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  16. doi:10.5169/seals-513253.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  17. ISBN 978-0-19-958815-2
    .

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