Henry Ehrenreich
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Henry Ehrenreich (title)
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Henry Ehrenreich (11 May 1928 - 20 January 2008) was an American physicist and Harvard professor who did research on semiconductors and solid-state physics.
Personal Life
Henry Ehrenreich was born on 11 May 1928 in Frankfurt to German Jews Frieda and Nathan Ehrenreich. His father Nathan was a prominent pianist and choral conductor, but in 1934 lost his position under the Nazi regime and was deported to Dachau in the wake of the "Kristallnacht". He was released on 7 December 1938 and was able to flee Germany ten days later.[1]
Henry himself was able to flee Germany via the Kindertransport to a foster home in England, but was soon sent to another foster home in Letchworth due to the evacuation of children from London. His German-speaking foster family there held Nazi sympathies and maltreated him. After his mother fled Germany on 24 August 1939 shortly before war broke out, he was placed with another family in Ditchling where they could visit.[1]
The family finally obtained US visas in the fall of 1939, and the family was finally reunited in March 1940 in New York. His father found work two years later as a choral conductor in Buffalo and Henry enrolled in high school there. A New York State Scholarship allowed Henry to study at Cornell where he graduated in 1950. A year earlier, he had first met Tema Hasnas, whom he married in 1953.[1]
Notwithstanding his decision to become a theoretical physicist, he shared a love for music with his father and was a skilled pianist.[2] He was also an early adopter of the E-Mail and the World Wide Web, despite already being considered an "elder of the faculty" in 1996. He stated that he got a PowerBook because Macs were "for idiots" and "kind of lick your hands and are friendly", but was still asking people in the hall for technical help.[3]
He died on 20 January 2008 in Belmont,[4] leaving behind his wife Tema, his daughter Beth, his sons Paul and Robert and 10 grandchildren.[2]
Career
Following his graduation he went to Columbia for an academic year, returning to Cornell in 1951 and began work as an assistant teacher. He took an interest in semiconductors and related problems, and started writing his doctoral thesis under Albert Overhauser on the "Scattering of Holes by Phonons in Germanium",[5] finishing it in 1955.[1]
He then went to the General Electric Research Laboratory to continue his research into surface and solid state science. During his time there, his three children were born.[1]
He moved to Harvard in 1960 and became a professor in 1963 at the Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. His research coincided with the boom in semiconductor applications, and Ehrenreich authored over 200 papers over the course of his career. He also co-authored the annual review Solid State Physics together with Frederick Seitz and David Turnbull.[1]
During the First Oil Crisis, he was asked to assess solar photovoltaic cells, served as a advisor to the Department of Energy and headed a study group on the matter from 1977-81 before testifying to Congress in 1985.[1] He also served on the DARPA Materials Council of the Department of Defense for 20 years, and participated in numerous national and international committees.[2]
Apart from his scientific contributions, Ehrenreich actively tried to improve Harvard undergraduate education in science and engineering and chaired the Core Committee on Science between 1987-99.[2] When the Core Curriculum at Harvard came under scrutiny in 1989, he remarked: "The present system we have is working pretty well. But you can always ask if we can do better."[6]
Ehrenreich was also part of a committee that decided on "Free Speech Guidelines" at Harvard in the wake of an intense debate about a Confederate Flag hung from a dorm room window in 1990.[7] In February 2003, Ehrenreich and Lydia Cummings were appointed ombudsmen for Harvard university, promising a "safe haven" for people affected by problems stemming from the university, with the office remaining independent of Harvard's administrative structure.[8] A year later, they had already handled around 150 cases.[9]
He was critical of a distinction between applied research ("strategic") and basic research ("curiosity-driven"), recounting the freedom to chose his own projects at the General Electric lab, and pointing to advances in semiconductor science that he saw as the result of an open stance towards basic research during the 50s.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Henry Ehrenreich". Harvard Gazette. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Scientist, educator Ehrenreich dies at 79". Harvard Gazette. 7 February 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Macmillan, Valerie J. (26 October 1996). "CYBER Prof". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Henry Ehrenreich Obituary (2008) - Boston Globe". www.legacy.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Ehrenreich, H.; Overhauser, A. W. (15 October 1956). "Scattering of Holes by Phonons in Germanium". Physical Review. 104 (2): 331–342. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.104.331.
- ^ Solowey, Eric S. (8 June 1989). "Ten-Year Review Focuses on Mechanics, Not Philosophy". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Schugart, Annie E.; Vasquez, Samuel (27 May 2015). "Political Correctness Debate Shook Harvard". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Ombudsmen open for business:". Harvard Gazette. 6 February 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Habib, May (25 February 2004). "Ehrenreich Sets Tone As First Ombudsperson". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Ehrenreich, H. (1997). "Halbleiterforschung in den 50er Jahren: Anwendungsorientierte Forschung und Zukunftstechnologie" [Semiconductor research in the 1950s: application-oriented research and future technology]. Physikalische Blätter (in German). 53 (1): 21–26. doi:10.1002/phbl.19970530105. ISSN 1521-3722.
External Links
- Materials science courses at Harvard University, 1994-2000 by Professor Henry Ehrenreich
- Publications by Henry Ehrenreich (on Researchgate)
- Program for a concert conducted by Henry's father Nathan in 1937
[Category:20th-century American physicists] [Category:21th-century American physicists] [Category:American people of German-Jewish descent] [Category:American materials scientists] [Category:Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences] [Category:1928 births] [Category:2008 deaths]