Paul Rosbaud
Encyclopedia
Paul Rosbaud was a metallurgist and scientific adviser for Springer Verlag in Germany before and during World War II
.
He continued in science publishing after the war with Pergamon Press
in Oxford
, England. In 1986 Arnold Kramish
revealed the undercover work of Paul Rosbaud for England during the war in the book The Griffin. It was Rosbaud that dispelled anxiety over a "German atom bomb".
Paul Rosbaud was born in Graz
, Austria. His mother taught piano lessons, and Paul's brother Hans Rosbaud
became a famous conductor. Rosbaud served in the Austrian army during World War I
from 1915 to 1918. After the war ended his unit was taken as prisoner of war by British forces; this experience ended up giving him a liking of the British. He studied chemistry at Darmstadt Technische Hochschule
beginning in 1920. He continued his studies at Kaiser Wilhelm Institut
in Berlin. For his doctorate, Rosbaud studied metallurgy
with Erich Schmid at Berlin-Charlottenburg Technische Hochschule and in 1925 wrote "On strain hardening of crystals in alloys and cold working", a frequently cited article.
Rosbaud then became a "roving scientific talent scout" for the scientific periodical Metallwirtschaft.
In 1938 he had his Jewish wife Hilde and their only daughter Angela sent to the UK to keep them safe from Nazi harassment. Rosbaud was also invited to stay in the UK, but he decided to keep working in Germany to undermine the Nazi regime. In addition to his own, Rosbaud helped a number of other families flee the Nazis, including that of the well known Jewish physicist Lise Meitner
. He was assisted in his work saving Jews by the fact that he was run as a British agent by Frank Foley
, the MI6 station chief in Berlin.
Before the outbreak of war, Rosbaud hurried into print Otto Hahn
's work on nuclear fission
in the German physics magazine Naturwissenschaften in January 1939. Paul Rosbaud
Among the reports he supplied to the British was that Germany produced rockets (V2
) and that the German project for a nuclear bomb was not successful. Rosbaud has also been connected to the "Oslo report
", a detailed list of new German weapons systems, but this seems to be the work of Hans Ferdinand Mayer
, technical director at Siemens
.
Many of his reports were smuggled out of Germany by couriers working for the Norwegian intelligence organisation XU
. Norwegians that were studying at technical schools in Germany, such as Sverre Bergh
, linked up with Rosbaud and transported the intelligence to occupied Norway, and from there it was sent to neutral Sweden. One daring route involved a flight from Berlin to Oslo
, with airport mechanics at each end helping to hide microfilms on the plane.
, Edward Salisbury, and Alexander Fleming
. When the Butterworth Company decided to pull out of the English/German liaison, Robert Maxwell
acquired 75% while 25% rested with Rosbaud. The company name was changed to Pergamon Press
; the partners, with their considerable language skills, cooperated in establishing new academic journal
s until 1956. After a disagreement, Rosbaud left. Maxwell said Rosbaud "was an outstanding editor of the European type from whom I learned some of the trade in the early days"
In 1961 the American Institute of Physics
presented Paul Rosbaud with the first John Torrence Tate Medal, an "award for service to the profession of physics rather than research accomplishment".
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
He continued in science publishing after the war with Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, which published scientific and medical books and journals. It is now an imprint of Elsevier....
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England. In 1986 Arnold Kramish
Arnold Kramish
Arnold Kramish was an American nuclear physicist and author who was associated with the Manhattan Project. While working on the project, he was nearly killed in an accident at the Philadelphia Naval Yard where a prototype thermal diffusion isotope separation device was being constructed...
revealed the undercover work of Paul Rosbaud for England during the war in the book The Griffin. It was Rosbaud that dispelled anxiety over a "German atom bomb".
Paul Rosbaud was born in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Austria. His mother taught piano lessons, and Paul's brother Hans Rosbaud
Hans Rosbaud
Hans Rosbaud , was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century....
became a famous conductor. Rosbaud served in the Austrian army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
from 1915 to 1918. After the war ended his unit was taken as prisoner of war by British forces; this experience ended up giving him a liking of the British. He studied chemistry at Darmstadt Technische Hochschule
Darmstadt University of Technology
The Technische Universität Darmstadt, abbreviated TU Darmstadt, is a university in the city of Darmstadt, Germany...
beginning in 1920. He continued his studies at Kaiser Wilhelm Institut
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science was a German scientific institution established in 1911. It was implicated in Nazi science, and after the Second World War was wound up and its functions replaced by the Max Planck Society...
in Berlin. For his doctorate, Rosbaud studied metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
with Erich Schmid at Berlin-Charlottenburg Technische Hochschule and in 1925 wrote "On strain hardening of crystals in alloys and cold working", a frequently cited article.
Rosbaud then became a "roving scientific talent scout" for the scientific periodical Metallwirtschaft.
Work under the Nazi regime and during the War
Through his work at Springer Verlag, Rosbaud knew much of the scientific community in Germany, and as a presumed Nazi he had sources of vital intelligence relating to weaponry.In 1938 he had his Jewish wife Hilde and their only daughter Angela sent to the UK to keep them safe from Nazi harassment. Rosbaud was also invited to stay in the UK, but he decided to keep working in Germany to undermine the Nazi regime. In addition to his own, Rosbaud helped a number of other families flee the Nazis, including that of the well known Jewish physicist Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
. He was assisted in his work saving Jews by the fact that he was run as a British agent by Frank Foley
Frank Foley
Major Francis Edward Foley CMG was a British Secret Intelligence Service officer...
, the MI6 station chief in Berlin.
Before the outbreak of war, Rosbaud hurried into print Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
's work on nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
in the German physics magazine Naturwissenschaften in January 1939. Paul Rosbaud
- realized the vast destructive potential of what Hahn, Strassmann, and Meitner had discovered, and he was acutely conscious that the fundamental research had been done in Germany. He wanted the rest of the world to know of the significance of the work at least as soon as the Nazi planners did. By rushing into print with Hahn’s manuscript he was able to alert the world community of physicists.
Among the reports he supplied to the British was that Germany produced rockets (V2
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
) and that the German project for a nuclear bomb was not successful. Rosbaud has also been connected to the "Oslo report
Oslo report
The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on November 1 and 2, 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several German weapons systems, current and future.Mayer...
", a detailed list of new German weapons systems, but this seems to be the work of Hans Ferdinand Mayer
Hans Ferdinand Mayer
Hans Ferdinand Mayer was a German mathematician and physicist and perhaps most notable for the Oslo Report which revealed German technological secrets to the British Government shortly after the start of World War II.-Biography:Hans Ferdinand Mayer studied mathematics, physics and astronomy at...
, technical director at Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
.
Many of his reports were smuggled out of Germany by couriers working for the Norwegian intelligence organisation XU
XU
XU was a clandestine intelligence organisation working on behalf of Allied powers in occupied Norway during World War II...
. Norwegians that were studying at technical schools in Germany, such as Sverre Bergh
Sverre Bergh
Sverre Bergh was a Norwegian spy in Nazi Germany during World War II.He grew up in Asker outside Oslo, When he was 20 years old he went to Dresden, Germany to study at Dresden Technische Hochschule in 1940. Before leaving, he was recruited by the Norwegian intelligence group XU...
, linked up with Rosbaud and transported the intelligence to occupied Norway, and from there it was sent to neutral Sweden. One daring route involved a flight from Berlin to Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, with airport mechanics at each end helping to hide microfilms on the plane.
After the war
Ater the war Paul Rosbaud took up residence in England. He worked for Butterworth-Springer, a company set up in response to a Scientific Advisory Board that included Alfred Egerton, Charles Galton DarwinCharles Galton Darwin
Sir Charles Galton Darwin, KBE, MC, FRS was an English physicist, the grandson of Charles Darwin. He served as director of the National Physical Laboratory during the Second World War.-Early life:...
, Edward Salisbury, and Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming
Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy...
. When the Butterworth Company decided to pull out of the English/German liaison, Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
acquired 75% while 25% rested with Rosbaud. The company name was changed to Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, which published scientific and medical books and journals. It is now an imprint of Elsevier....
; the partners, with their considerable language skills, cooperated in establishing new academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
s until 1956. After a disagreement, Rosbaud left. Maxwell said Rosbaud "was an outstanding editor of the European type from whom I learned some of the trade in the early days"
In 1961 the American Institute of Physics
American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics promotes science, the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies...
presented Paul Rosbaud with the first John Torrence Tate Medal, an "award for service to the profession of physics rather than research accomplishment".
Further reading
- Joe Haines (1988) Maxwell, Houghton Mifflin Company, ISBN 0395489296 .
- Arnold KramishArnold KramishArnold Kramish was an American nuclear physicist and author who was associated with the Manhattan Project. While working on the project, he was nearly killed in an accident at the Philadelphia Naval Yard where a prototype thermal diffusion isotope separation device was being constructed...
(1986) The Griffin: The Greatest Untold Espionage Story of World War II Houghton Mifflin (T) ISBN 0-395-36318-7 . - Michael Smith (1999) "Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews" Hodder & Stoughton. Now republished by Politicos ISBN 1-84275-088-7
- American Institute of Physics Tate Medal Winners.
- R.W. Cahn (2004) "The birth and evolution of Physical Metallurgy" Progress in Materials Science 49:221–26 .