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Rudolf Ladenburg (1882-1952)

Ladenburg was the son of a chemistry professor and earned his doctorate in 1906 at Heidelberg under the direction of Wilhelm Röntgen. After working at the physics institute at the University of Breslau, Ladenburg became the chief of the physics division at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. His research explored dispersion lines in atomic spectra, and one of his great contributions is a reasoned approach to dispersion theory, according to Hans Koppermann of Göttingen. Ladenburg also investigated hydrogen in excited states. At 49, he went to Princeton, where he later succeeded Karl Taylor Compton at the Palmer Laboratory. Ladenburg helped German scientists come to the US in the early years of WWII. He died in Princeton.

Karen Rae Keck

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