51 Most Incredible German Scientists and Innovators of All Times

 

26. Kurt Alder (1902 – 1958)

Alder will remain a great figure in chemistry as he grew jointly with Otto Diels the reaction known as Diels-Alder reaction, which found a wide application in synthesizing cyclic organic compounds that led to the development of plastics.

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27. Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906 – 1972)

Maria Goeppert-Mayer was the second female Nobel Prize Winner for proposing nuclear shell model of nuclear atomic nucleus.

As for her co-theory of shells, they proposed a model where nucleus has several shells “orbital levels”, where protons and neutrons are allocated amongst these shells in a distinguishing level of stability.

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28. Max Delbrück (1906 – 1981)

Max Delbrück became known for his discovery of viruses called bacteriophages that infect bacteria. His discovery shown that bacteriophages reproduce fast in an hour period; multiplying into hundred thousand.

Delbrück along with Salvador Luria and Alfred Hershey, shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses”.

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29. Max Planck (1858 – 1947)

Planck is the originator of the quantum theory, a theory that increased the understanding on the aspects of atomic and subatomic processes. Through his discoveries, he explained the crystalline structure of matter, which latter led to the creation of the atomic structure used for nuclear weapons.

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30. Max Von Laue (1879 – 1960)

Laue remains an exemplifying figure of the physics for his dedication to the discovery of X-rays diversion into crystals. His work led to the establishment of solid-state physics, a field that derived into a modern electronics.

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