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Alfred LandeGerman physicist
Date of Birth: 13.12.1888
Country:  Germany |
Content:
- Early Life and Family
- Education and Career
- Military Service and Atomic Physics
- Professorship at Ohio State University
Early Life and Family
Alfred Lande was born on December 3, 1888, in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal), Germany, to a secular Jewish family. His father, Hugo Lande (1859-1936), was a lawyer who served as head of the provincial administration of Düsseldorf and later as head of the legal department of the Elberfeld city council for the Social Democratic Party (1919). His mother, Thekla Lande (1864-1932), was the daughter of Prussian architect Moritz Lande (1829-1888), who designed the New Synagogue in Ostrów. She was the first female deputy for the Rhineland (1919), running as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the Weimar National Assembly that same year. She served on the city council of Elberfeld and Wuppertal from 1919 to 1932.
Lande's parents were cousins from Ostrów and married in 1887. He had two sisters, Charlotte (1890-1977), a pediatrician, hygienist, and medical scientist, and Eva Stedeli (1901-1977), an educator and progressive pedagogical theorist. He also had a brother, Franz (1893-1942), a conductor, musicologist, and music teacher, who was deported to Auschwitz. His son, Karl (1924-2005), became a political scientist and professor at the University of Kansas.
Education and Career
Study with Hilbert in GöttingenLande began studying mathematics at the University of Göttingen in 1913 under the guidance of David Hilbert. He earned his doctorate in 1914.
Military Service and Atomic Physics
After participating in World War I, Lande turned his focus to the study of atomic structure. He introduced the Lande multiplet, a gyromagnetic multiplier that describes the interaction of a magnetic field with an atomic orbital.
Professorship at Ohio State University
In 1929-1931, Lande was a visiting professor at The Ohio State University. He studied the foundations of quantum mechanics. He formally emigrated to the United States after his second visit to Ohio in 1931 and continued his work at the university.
