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He later legally changed his name to Peter Joseph William Debye. EARLY LIFE Peter "Pie" Debye was born in Maastricht and after attending local schools in Maastricht went to the University Of Aachen , Germany , only 30 km from Maastricht, in 1901. He studied Mathematics and classical Physics , and in 1905 received a degree in Electrical Engineering . In 1907 he published his first paper, a mathematically elegant solution of a problem involving Eddy Current s. At Aachen he studied under the theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld , who later claimed that his most important discovery was Peter Debye. In 1906, Sommerfeld received an appointment at Munich , and took Debye with him as his assistant. He got his Ph. D. with a dissertation on Radiation Pressure in 1908. In 1910 he derived the Planck Radiation Formula using a method which Max Planck agreed was simpler than his own method. In 1911, when Albert Einstein took an appointment as a professor at Prague , Debye took his old professorship at Zürich . This was followed by moves to Utrecht in 1912, Göttingen in 1913, back to Zürich in 1920, to Leipzig in 1927, and to Berlin in 1934, where he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute , saw to the construction of new laboratories, and developed it into the now-world-regarded Max Planck Institute in 1938. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1935. From 1937 to 1939 he was the president of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft . In 1913 he married Mathilde Alberer. They had a son and a daughter; their son (Peter P. Debye) became a physicist and collaborated with Debye in some of his researches. SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS PRIOR TO THE NOBEL PRIZE
HIS NOBEL PRIZE In 1936, Debye was awarded the Nobel Prize In Chemistry ( entry at nobelprize.org ) "for his contributions to the study of molecular structure," primarily referring to his work on dipole moments and X-ray diffraction. WAR YEARS From 1934 to 1939 Debye was director of the prestigious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin. In January 2006, documents surfaced that seem to establish that in this period, Debye was actively involved in cleansing German science institutions from Jewish and other "non-arian elements". On December 9 1938 he wrote to all the members of the ''Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft '': ''In light of the current situation, membership by German Jews as stipulated by the Nuremberg laws, of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft cannot be continued. According to the wishes of the board, I ask of all members to whom these definitions apply to report to me their resignation. Heil Hitler!'' For this reason and perhaps long standing professional competition, Albert Einstein actively tried to prevent Debye from being appointed in the United States Sybe Rispens, ''Einstein in Nederland. Een intellectuele biografie'' Ambo/Anthos 2006 9026319037 . Nevertheless, Debye was offered a chance to give a series of lectures at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and he traveled to the United States Of America . Official biographies state that Debye moved to the US because he refused to accept German citizenship forced on to him by the Nazis. Nevertheless during the time he presented his lectures, his family stayed in Berlin, he kept his official Berlin residence and he kept receiving his wages. On 23 June 1941 he sent a telegram to Berlin informing his employers that he was able and willing to resume his responsibilities at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut. To his defence it has been documented that he had helped his Jewish colleague Lise Meitner in 1938-1939 to escape Nazi prosecution by securing for her a position in Sweden. His son Peter P. Debye, interviewed in 2006 at age 89 Interview given to Gooi & Eemlander newspaper (Dutch language) February 2 2006 recollects that his father was completely a-political and that in the privacy of their home politics were never discussed. According to his son Debye just wanted to do his job at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and that as long as the Nazis did not bother him he was able to do so. He recalls that his mother urged his father to stay in the US in the event a war would break out. In light of the accusations, the Debye Institute affiliated with the is reconsidering its position on the ''Peter Debye Prijs voor natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek'' (Peter Debye Prize for scientific research) Press release University of Maastricht 16 February 2006 Link LATER LIFE Debye ended up staying at Cornell, became a professor (and, for 10 years, chairman of the chemistry department, and member of Alpha Chi Sigma ) there, and in 1946 became an American citizen. Unlike the Europe an phase of his life, where Debye moved from city to city every few years, in the United States he remained at Cornell for the whole remainder of his career. He retired in 1952, but continued research until his death. Much of his work at Cornell concerned the use of light-scattering techniques (derived from his X-ray scattering work of years earlier) to determine the size and Molecular Weight of Polymer Molecule s. This started as a result of his work during World War II on Synthetic Rubber , but was extended to Protein s and other Macromolecule s. In April 1966 he suffered a Heart Attack , and in November of that year a second, which proved fatal. A LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS NAMED FOR PETER DEBYE
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