Alfred Hermann Sommer was born on November 19, 1909 in Frankfurt, Germany and received a Ph. D. in chemistry from the University of Berlin in 1934. By then, he knew he would have to flee the Nazi regime and took a job in which, by working overtime, he could develop laboratory techniques of interest to English employers. Sommer escaped to London in 1935 and worked with John Logie Baird in his efforts to develop color television and on photoemissive materials for EMI.
Dr. Sommer emigrated with his family to the U, S. in 1953 and took a job with the Radio Corporation of America at its David Sarnoff Laboratory in Princeton, where he worked until 1974, twice winning the company's "Lifetime Achievement" award. He than served as a consultant to Thermo Electron Corporation in Waltham, Mass., until 1990. Dr. Sommer received the Gaede-Langmuir Prize of the American Vacuum Society in 1982 and the gold medal of the International Society for Optical Engineering in 1993, particularly for his work in the development of black-and-white and color television. He died at Longmeadow, Mass., on December 8, 2003.
From the description of The Alfred Hermann Sommer collection, 1947-1993. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 725369030
