work. Born in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw, Poland, Haber’s family was one of the oldest and most respected in the community. He obtained a classical education in his hometown then went on to study chemistry at universities in Berlin, Heidelberg and Zurich before volunteering to return to Breslau and help in his father’s business.
Haber’s enterprising spirit led him to change his plans again, however, and he determined to follow an academic career. He first worked at the University of Jena with Ludwig Knorr but was, even at this time, uncertain whether to pursue his studies in physics or chemistry. In 1894 he finally accepted an invitation to be an assistant to Hans Bunte, professor of chemical technology at Technische Hochschule, in Karlsruhe. It was also in Karlsruhe that he met Carl Engler. These two men would have an enormous influence on Haber’s professional life.
In 1911 he was appointed director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, where he stayed for more than 20 years. He became a model leader of this vast institution, giving freedom to his colleagues while at the same time maintaining control over the school’s diverse activities. Those who came into contact with him recognized his strong personality, management skills and work ethic.
When World War I broke out, Haber was appointed a consultant to the German War Office and had a decisive role in developing poison gas as a weapon of war. After the end of the conflict, the chemist once again showed his patriotism by trying to help Germany overcome its enormous war debt. To do so he began an unsuccessful attempt to extract gold from seawater.
At the height of his career, Haber was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements.” He left an important legacy of perfecting the Haber process, which combines nitrogen and hydrogen under pressure using iron as a catalyst to produce ammonia. This process can be used to produce fertilizers or explosives. Haber’s most productive period coincided with the peak of the Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry after World War I. Unfortunately Hitler’s rise to power put an end to this growth, since Haber, as well as some of his colleagues, was Jewish. For the German authorities, the devotion that he had given to his country now meant little.
After leaving the Institute in 1933, he went to Cambridge in England but did not stay long, fearing the wet weather’s effect on his heart condition. Haber died on January 29, 1934, in Basel, Switzerland.
Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931)
1918 Literature Prize was refused.
1931 Literature Prize awarded posthumously.
He turned down the prize to dedicate himself to academy matters as a member and secretary from 1904 till the date of his death.
Erik Axel Eriksson came from old Swiss mining families on both his father’s and mother’s sides. He attended schools in his hometown of Folkarna as well as in Västerås. In 1889 Erik Axel adopted the name Karlfeldt, by which he would be known from then on. It was not a family name but was derived from the title of his father’s property. Rural culture had an influence on him throughout his life, and it became a favorite subject of his future literary work.
Karlfeldt started to write poems while still a student and the first collection, Vildmarks-och kärleksvisor (Songs of the Wilderness and of Love), was published in the autumn of 1895, three years after he had graduated from the University of Uppsala. His professional activity, however, had already begun when, between 1893 and 1896, he taught in a private elementary school in Djursholm and gave lessons to adults in Molkom. Besides this, he was also a journalist for a Stockholm periodical for a short period of time.
After concluding his studies, he worked in the Royal Library in Stockholm, Sweden, for five years and then was appointed librarian at the Agricultural Academy. Meanwhile his poetic talents had begun to be noticed and, in 1904, he was elected to the Swedish Academy, becoming a member of the Nobel Institute of the Academy as well as a member of the Nobel Committee. In 1912 he was appointed permanent secretary of the academy and dedicated himself entirely to the position and to poetry.
In 1916 he married Gerda Holmberg and the couple had four children. In 1918 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which, for ethical reasons, Karlfeldt turned down due to his very strong links with the academy. The rejection was so firm that there were practically no records of the distinction; according to the official lists the prize was not attributed.
In 1931, however, Karlfeldt was once again recognized with the Nobel Prize in Literature, this time posthumously. It was the only way the academy found to thank Karlfeldt without giving him the opportunity to turn down the prize.
A Lutheran who did not like to expose his private life and more inner reflections — it was for this reason that he sought an alter ego to represent his feelings — Karlfeldt left a body of poetry replete with characters based on Swedish traditions. His works reflect his own position toward the world, with a sense of humor, integrity and beauty of benefit to the collective and the individual.
Johannes Stark (1874–1957)
1919 Physics
For his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields.
The German Johannes Stark was one of the scientists who supported Hitler, declaring his allegiance in 1924 and joining the Nazi party in 1930. A confirmed anti-Semite, he defended the idea of a “German science” as opposed to a “Jewish science” and opposed Jewish scientists like Einstein.
In 1933 he was elected president of the Reich Physical-Technical Institute and remained in this position until his retirement in 1939. During this period he also assumed the presidency of the German Research Association. Despite defending the need for Germany to carry out an applied investigation into the production of technological methods and industries of war, Stark’s influence among his contemporaries was declining, even before the fall of the Third Reich. After World War II, he was sentenced to four years hard labor for his Nazi ties, a sentence that was later suspended.
In spite of his racial and political views, Stark’s career was important to science and was distinguished in various ways. In 1910 he won the Baumgartner Prize of the Vienna Academy of Sciences and the Vahlbruch Prize of the Göttingen Science Academy in 1914. Stark was also a member of academies in Göttingen, Rome, Vienna and Calcutta. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to him in 1919 for the “discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields,” an effect that was named after him. The prize enabled him to set up a private laboratory.
Stark was born in Schickenhof on one of his father’s estates. Initially he studied in Bayreuth and Regensberg then went to the University of Munich in 1894. In 1900 he became an unpaid staff member at the University of Göttingen.
A prolific writer, Stark published more than 300 scientific papers. In 1902 his book, Die Elektrizität in Gasen (Electricity in Gases), was published. He also founded the Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik (The Yearbook of Radioactivity and Electronics), a publication he edited between 1904 and 1913.
He died on the June 21, 1957, in Traunstein, Germany. In his later years he continued his research in his private laboratory. Besides his scientific life and political convictions, Stark
