Fritz Reiche Collection
Scope and Content Note
This collection documents Fritz Reiche’s professional life in Germany and the United States, his immigration as a displaced scholar, as well as the reception of his scientific work and teaching.
A very detailed curriculum vitae authored by Reiche himself, together with personal memoirs by his son, Hans, illustrates the network of distinguished physicists that Reiche joined in the course of his academic career. Letters of recommendation by prominent figures, such as Albert Einstein and Max Born, give further evidence of the supportive role this network played in helping Reiche and his family obtain immigration visas and reestablishing his career in the United States.
Some personal correspondence composed mostly of birthday wishes, a few photographs of Reiche and his colleagues, a death certificate, as well as a manuscript of his final, unfinished work on electromagnetic waves supplement this collection.
Also included are finding aids to the Fritz Reiche collection at the American Physics Institute which holds an abundance of related material.
Dates
- 1928-2005
- Majority of material found within 1939-1969
Creator
- Reiche, F. (Fritz), 1883-1969 (Person)
Language of Materials
The collection is in English and some German.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org
Biographical Note<extptr actuate="onload" altrender="Portrait of Fritz Reiche (1883-1969)" href="http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1552580" linktype="simple" show="embed" title="Portrait of Fritz Reiche (1883-1969)"/>
Fritz Reiche (1883-1969) was a German theoretical physicist who immigrated to the U.S. in 1941, as one of the last Jewish physicists to leave Germany under the Nazi government. A student and colleague of Wilhelm C. Röntgen, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber, Rudolf Ladenburg, James Franck, Max Born and Max von Laue, Reiche established a career in a circle of prominent scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. His academic work in the field of quantum theory earned him international recognition as a distinguished scientist. Historically, Fritz Reiche's migrant story as a displaced scholar has often been received in the context of the development of the atomic bomb in the United States, as he brought to the U.S. news of the German advances in the production of fissionable material.
Reiche grew up in Berlin. He studied physics, mathematics and chemistry at the universities of Munich and Berlin and received his Ph.D. degree under Max Planck in 1907. After three years of post-doctoral studies at the University of Breslau (1908-1911), Reiche returned to Berlin where he completed his habilitation thesis in 1913. In 1914 he married Berta Ochs, daughter of Siegfried Ochs, the founder and conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Choir. The couple had two children. During World War I, Reiche was assistant to Max Planck, 1915-18. At the same time he worked as an instructor at the University of Berlin (1913-1921), and later at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (1919-1921). In 1921 he returned to Breslau as professor of theoretical physics, a position he held until he was dismissed by the Nazi government in 1933. Reiche left Germany for two years as a guest professor at the University of Prague, but returned to Germany in 1935. Until 1941 Reiche held no academic position.
Supported by the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars as well as by Albert Einstein and other colleagues, Reich was eventually able to immigrate with his family to the United States in 1941, where he began to reestablish his career as a scholar at various institutions in the state of New York, including the New School for Social Research (1941), City College (1942-1944), and Union College, Schenectady (1944-1946). He finally obtained a position as adjunct professor at New York University in 1946, where he taught and researched until his retirement at the age of 75. After his retirement in 1958 he continued his academic work at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences until his death in 1969.
Extent
0.25 Linear Feet
Abstract
Papers in this collection pertain to the academic life and career of theoretical physicist Fritz Reiche in Germany and the United States. Included are a curriculum vitae, memoirs, letters of recommendation, clippings from public documents such as newspaper articles, faculty letters, obituaries, as well as some personal correspondence, a death certificate, a manuscript and a few photographs.
Arrangement
The collection consists of one series, arranged chronologically.
Separated Material
Reiche's copy of Born, Max: Max Karl Ernest Ludwig Planck 1858-1947, has been moved to the LBI library collection.
Processing Information
The material in this collection has been rearranged in chronological order. Biographical documents have been grouped into one folder.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Bibliographies
- Born, Max, 1882-1970
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars
- Exile (Punishment)
- Latin America -- Emigration and immigration
- Letters of recommendation
- Manuscripts (documents)
- Mathematical physics
- Memoirs
- New York (N.Y.)
- Obituaries
- Photographs
- Physicists
- Physicists -- Correspondence
- Planck, M. (Max), 1822-1900
- Reiche, F. (Fritz), 1883-1969
- Résumés (personnel records)
- Scholars
- Wrocław (Poland)
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of Fritz Reiche (1883-1969) 1928-2005 AR 25185
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Florian Siedlarek and LBI Staff
- Date
- © 2012
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Edition statement
- This version was derived from FritzReiche.xml
Revision Statements
- October 15, 2014 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository