Reiche, F. (Fritz), 1883-1969

Fritz Reiche was born on July 4, 1883 in Berlin, Germany. He attended the University of Munich from 1901 to 1902 and the University of Berlin from 1902 to 1907. He received his Ph.D. in 1907 after studying with Max Planck. Between 1908 and 1911 Reiche was working at the University of Breslau and from 1911 to 1913 he was at the University of Berlin. In 1913 till 1921 Reiche was an instructor of theoretical physics at the University of Berlin. Also during this period he was an assistant to Professor Planck between 1915 and 1918 and worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin-Dahlem between 1919 and 1921. Up until 1921, Reiche's work focused mainly on optical theories, such as his studies on refraction principles, the diffraction of light, and the emission and absorption distribution of spectral lines. In 1921 Reiche moved to the University of Breslau as a professor of theoretical physics. At about the same time as this move, Reiche's work began to focus more on quantum theory. His position at Breslau ended abruptly with the dismissal by the Nazis of Jewish scientists in 1933. Reiche left Germany for two years for a guest lecturer position at the German University in Prague, but he returned to Berlin in 1935. Reiche held no academic position until 1941 when he and his family immigrated to the United States and he brought news of the advances in Germany towards the production of fissionable material. In 1941 h

e became an associate professor of physics at the New School for Social Research in New York. Between 1942 and 1944 he was an instructor at the City College in New York and between 1944 and 1946 he was a lecturer at Union College in Schenectady, New York. In 1946 Reiche began a position as an adjunct professor at New York University and remained there until his retirement from teaching in 1958. At NYU, Reiche taught such subjects as theoretical physics, wave mechanics, and thermodynamics. He also carried out special research projects for NASA and the U.S. Navy on supersonic flow. After 1958, Reiche continued his research as the Senior Research Scientist at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University in the division of electromagnetic research. Reiche continued his research on the difference between the number of modes of wave propagation in magneto-hydrodynamics and in electromagnetics until a few days before his death on January 18, 1969.

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