Manhattan Pioneer and Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe died Sunday in Ithaca, N.Y. at the age of 98.
Born on July 2, 1906 in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, Bethe headed the Theoretical (T) Division at Los Alamos from 1943 to 1946. Prior to joining the Manhattan Project, Bethe taught physics at Cornell University. He joined Cornell in 1935 after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. After World War II, Bethe returned to Cornell and remained until he retired as professor emeritus in 1975.
It was during his early years at Cornell, before joining the Manhattan Project, that Bethe published his famous reviews of nuclear physics and conducted the groundbreaking work on the theory of energy production in stars that garnered him the Nobel Prize for physics in 1967.
Bethe also conducted theoretical research on atomic and molecular physics, studying the behavior of groups of atoms and molecules, their interactions (collisions), and on solid-state physics. In 1947, with R.E. Marshak, he anticipated the discovery of the pi meson. That same year, Bethe was the first to explain the Lamb shift in the hydrogen spectrum, laying the foundation for the modern development of quantum electrodynamics.
From 1956 to 1964, Bethe served as a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee and helped to negotiate the 1963 partial test ban treaty with the Soviet Union. He also acted as an informal adviser to presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. In his later years, Bethe was a passionate advocate against the international development of defensive nuclear systems, and in 1997, he sent a letter to President Clinton asking that he certify that the United States would not work to develop any new types of nuclear weapons.
In 2001, Bethe, along with former Laboratory Director Harold Agnew, was honored with the first Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal. Bethe was lauded for his role as a "scientific visionary and leader, mentor and role model to the Laboratory from its inception." The medal is the highest honor given by the Laboratory to an individual or group.
For more information about Bethe, go to http://www.lanl.gov/history/people/H_Bethe.shtml online.
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