Eugène Bloch

Eugène Bloch (born June 10, 1878 in Sulz / Upper Alsace , † 1944 in Auschwitz ) was a French physicist.

Life

Bloch's father sold his textile factory in the Vosges and moved from what was then German Alsace to Paris so that his children could be taught French. Bloch studied physics from 1897 to 1900 at the École normal supérieure of Paris (ENS), among others with Jules Violle , Marcel Brillouin and Henri Abraham , and at the Sorbonne , among others with Gabriel Lippmann and Edmond Bouty . In 1899 he received his licentiate in physics and mathematics and in 1900 he won the competition for the Agrégation in physics. He was a preparatory teacher (preparator) at the ENS while he was writing his dissertation. In 1904 he received his doctorate at the Sorbonne (on ionization in phosphorescence ). Afterwards he was a high school teacher at the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris, but at the same time researched at the physics laboratory of the ENS, particularly on photoelectric effects and spectroscopy. In 1921 he became Maître de conférences at the Faculté des Sciences in Paris, delegated to the ENS.

In 1927 he became professor for theoretical physics and astrophysics (physique céleste) at the Sorbonne, but also taught at the ENS in exchange with Georges Bruhat , who took over his astrophysics lessons. Among other things, he gave lectures on quantum theory, which appeared as a book. In 1934 he became president of the French Physical Society. In 1937 he succeeded Henri Abraham as professor of physics and head of the ENS physics laboratory.

In 1940 he was dismissed as a Jew by the Vichy regime and Georges Bruhat succeeded him. He went into hiding and worked in secret at the physics laboratory at the University of Lyon. After the Germans occupied other parts of France in 1942, he hid in the Savoy Alps , but was tracked down and arrested in January 1944. In March he was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was murdered.

Bloch dealt with the photoelectric effect of spectroscopy in the ultraviolet range, for which he built a spectrograph . During the First World War , he and Abraham built radio receivers and transmitters for the army as well as measuring devices for radio wavelengths.

He is one of the three physicists in whose honor the Prix ​​des trois physiciens has been awarded since 1951 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ E. Bloch: L'ancienne et la nouvelle théorie des quanta , Hermann 1930