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Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was a German nuclear physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954 with Max Born for inventing a new method called “coincidence method” by which he detected subatomic particles, and further applications.
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Key Facts & Information
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
- Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe was born on January 8, 1891 in Oranienburg, Germany.
- He was born to Fritz Bothe, a merchant, and Charlotte Hartung.
- From 1908 to 1912 he studied at the University of Berlin, particularly focusing on physics, mathematics, and chemistry.
- In 1914, he earned his doctorate in physics, under the mentorship of physicist Max Planck, for his thesis about the molecular theory of reflection, refraction, dispersion, and extinction.
- He continued to study such theory in the years that followed.
CAREER AND CONTRIBUTIONS
- In 1913, Bothe began to work as a researcher at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (Reich Physical and Technical Institute) where he stayed until 1930.
- During World War I, Bothe served in the German army.
- In 1915, he was captured by the Soviets and was held captive in Siberia for a year.
- While he was a prisoner of war, he studied the Russian language and continued his scientific research.
- In 1920, Bothe returned to Germany and continued his employment at the radioactive laboratory under under Hans Geiger at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR).
- In PTR, Bothe and Geiger collaborated on Bothe’s most important discoveries.
- In 1924, Bothe published a paper on his invention of the coincidence method, which states his discovery that when a single subatomic particle passes through two Geiger counters, the pulses from each counter are coincident in time.
- He further applied this method to his studies on the wave-particle duality of light and the Compton effect.
- Bothe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954, which he shared with Max Born, for the coincidence method and his further applications of the method.
- The results of the coincidence method disproved a statistical interpretation of the Compton effect and established the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation.
- Bothe’s coincidence method also made it possible to determine the angular distribution of cosmic rays.
- In 1925, while still working at PTR, Bothe became a Privatdozent at the University of Berlin.
- A Privatdozent is a teacher or lecturer in a German university that is recognized formally as a teacher but does not receive a salary.
- In 1927, Bothe succeeded Geiger as director of the Laboratory for Radioactivity.
- In 1929, Bothe applied the coincidence method on cosmic radiation, in collaboration with astronomer Werner Kolhörster and physicist Bruno Rossi.
- By passing the cosmic rays through a Geiger counter array, Bothe was able to demonstrate that cosmic rays was composed of gamma rays and high energy particles rather than photons.
- Bothe studied cosmic radiation for the rest of his life.
- Bothe was also interested in studying the transmutation of elements.
- In 1930, he took a full professorship at the University of Giessen.
- In 1930, Bothe worked with Herbert Becker and observed a new form of radiation by bombarding beryllium, boron, and lithium with alpha particles from polonium.
- The radiation was later identified by Sir James Chadwick as the neutron in 1932.
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- In 1932, he became director of the Physical and Radiological Institute at the University of Heidelberg.
- In 1934, he became director of the Physics Institute of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research at Heidelberg, where he remained until his death in 1957.
- In 1938, working with Wolfgang Gentner, Bothe published a paper on the energy dependence of the nuclear photo-effect.
- In Heidelberg, Bothe was responsible for the planning and building of the first operational German cyclotron which was completed in 1943.
- The cyclotron is a device that can accelerate particles along a spiral path.
- During the Second World War, he worked on the German nuclear energy and weapons research.
- After the war, Bothe used the German cyclotron to create radioactive isotopes.
- Bothe published numerous scientific articles and books in his lifetime.
PERSONAL LIFE
- While he was held as a prisoner of war in Russia, Bothe met Barbara Below, who became his wife in 1920.
- The couple had two daughters.
- Bothe was a skilled pianist who was fond of listening to Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.
- He was also an artist, mostly painting using watercolor and oil.
- At 66 years old, Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe died on February 8, 1957 in Heidelberg, Germany.
HONORS AND AWARDS
- Bothe was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Göttingen and the Academy of Sciences of Heidelberg.
- In 1952, he became a Knight of the Order of Merit for Sciences and the Arts.
- In 1953, he received the Max Planck Medal.
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe Worksheets
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Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe Facts
- Who’s Walther?
- Bothe-cabulary
- Correct Sequence
- Honors & Titles
- Bothe’s Collaborators
- German Physicists
- Nobel Winners
- Ideas Of Interest
- Best Of Bothe’s World
- Nuclear News
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