RealClearScience: The Perils of Being Paul Ehrenfest
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Paul Ehrenfest
Paul Ehrenfest was an Austrian theoretical physicist who made major contributions to statistical mechanics and its relation to quantum mechanics, including the theory of phase transition and the Ehrenfest theorem. He befriended Albert Einstein on a visit to Prague in 1912 and became a professor in Leiden, where he frequently hosted Einstein. Suffering from depression, in 1933 Ehrenfest killed his…
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science · Austrian theoretical physicist (1880–1933) · physicist · theoretical physicist · university teacher · mathematician · nuclear physicist · also Paul Ehrenfest, P. Ehrenfest, Ehrenfest
Born 18 January 1880 · Died 25 September 1933 · Q84227
15 published statements · 0 followers
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2019· 1 entry
1933· 3 entries
Died 1933-09-25.
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Ehrenfest killed his disabled son, Wassik, and then himself
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“You will get your difficulties with the point electron.”
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1923· 1 entry
Einstein stayed there for six weeks, after German ultra-nationalists in Berlin had made threats against his life
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1920· 1 entry
An appointment as extraordinary professor at the University of Leiden
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1919· 2 entries
For Hans Kramers' thesis defense, he wrote to Ehrenfest:
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Became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
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1912· 3 entries
Ehrenfest toured German-speaking universities in the hope of a position
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And became a professor in Leiden, where he frequently hosted Einstein
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At his house continues with the name Colloquium Ehrenfestii
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1903· 2 entries
Studied at University of Göttingen (1901–1903).
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Met Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz during a short visit to Leiden, Netherlands
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1901· 1 entry
Ehrenfest transferred to University of Göttingen, which until 1933 was an important site for mathematics and theoretical physics
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1880· 1 entry
Born 1880-01-18.
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