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Fritz Henning Emil Paul Berndt Laves (27 February 1906 – 12 August 1978) was a German crystallographer who served as the president of the German Mineralogical Society from 1956 to 1958. He is the namesake of
Laves phase Laves phases are intermetallic phase (matter), phases that have composition AB2 and are named for Fritz Laves who first described them. The phases are classified on the basis of geometry alone. While the problem of Close-packing of equal spheres ...
s and the
Laves tiling This table shows the 11 convex uniform tilings (regular and semiregular) of the Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane, and their dual tilings. There are three regular and eight semiregular Tiling by regular polygons, tilings in the plane. The semi ...
s; the
Laves graph In geometry and crystallography, the Laves graph is an infinite and highly symmetric system of points and line segments in three-dimensional Euclidean space, forming a Periodic graph (geometry), periodic graph. Three equal-length segments meet ...
, a highly-symmetrical three-dimensional
crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from intrinsic nature of constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat ...
that he studied, was named after him by H. S. M. Coxeter.


Education and career

Laves was born in
Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
, the son of a judge and the great-grandson of architect
Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves (17 December 1788 – 30 April 1864) was a German architect, civil engineer and urban planner. Born in Uslar, Lower Saxony, he lived and worked primarily in the city of Hanover and also died there. He was appointed ...
. He grew up in
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
, where his interests included
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
music as well as collecting rocks and minerals. He began his university studies in
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
in 1924 at the
University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...
, and continued at the
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
before moving to
ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...
for doctoral studies under Paul Niggli. In 1929 he took a faculty position under
Victor Goldschmidt Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (27 January 1888 – 20 March 1947) was a Norwegian mineralogist considered (together with Vladimir Vernadsky) to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry, developer of the Goldschmidt Classificatio ...
at Göttingen. He tried unsuccessfully to prevent Goldschmidt from being dismissed in 1933, and later had difficulty advancing through the German academic system under the Nazis because he was known as a protector of the Jews. His research at this time largely concerned
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
s and
intermetallic An intermetallic (also called intermetallic compound, intermetallic alloy, ordered intermetallic alloy, long-range-ordered alloy) is a type of metallic alloy that forms an ordered solid-state compound between two or more metallic elements. Inte ...
materials. He was drafted into the German army in 1939, but returned to academia after the intervention of Paul Rosbaud, and instead worked on metallurgy for
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
during the war. On that position
an alchemist was assigned to look over his shoulder, and contributed to the success of his experiments by oscillating a small crystal sphere on a chain over the crucible. He also insisted on adding powdered crocodile bones to the batch, but because of Rommel's difficulties in the land of the Nile, settled for the tail-bones of a lesser lizard.
In 1944 he moved to the
University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...
as director of the Mineralogical Department, and then after World War II he became an
ordinary professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...
at the
University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...
, where he worked on disordered materials and two-dimensional structures. By 1948 he had agreed to be taken to America by the U. S. Navy during
Operation Paperclip The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War I ...
, and began working with Julian Goldsmith at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. At this time, his interests shifted again, to the study of
feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...
, one of the minerals he had collected in his youth. Despite having become highly Americanized, he found himself unable to resist an offer to return to ETH Zurich, in 1954, to fill the chair that had been left vacant by the death of his advisor Paul Niggli. He remained in Zurich until his retirement in 1976. Laves was the editor of the journal '' Zeitschrift für Kristallographie'' between 1955 and 1978, which honoured him with a special issue in May 2006 commemorating the hundredth anniversary of his birth. The issue was devoted to the crystal chemistry of intermetallic compounds and included two articles on Laves' contributions to crystallography.


Personal life

Laves was married to architect Melitta Druckenmüller (1907 – 1990), who assisted him with many of the illustrations in his publications. They had three daughters together, Gracia, Charlotte, and Katharina.


Awards and honors

Laves was awarded the
Roebling Medal The Roebling Medal is the highest award of the Mineralogical Society of America for scientific eminence as represented primarily by scientific publication of outstanding original research in mineralogy. The award is named for Colonel Washington A. ...
, the highest honor of the
Mineralogical Society of America The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, ...
, in 1969.. He was a member of the
Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...
, and a corresponding member of the
Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur The Academy of Sciences and Literature () is a scientific academy in Mainz, Germany. It was established in 1949 on an initiative of Alfred Döblin. The academy's goal is to support science and literature, and in doing so to help preserve and pr ...
and the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...
. He was also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Bochum.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laves, Fritz 1906 births 1978 deaths German mineralogists German crystallographers Academic staff of ETH Zurich Scientists from Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Halle Academic staff of the University of Marburg University of Chicago people Academic staff of the University of Göttingen German metallurgists University of Göttingen alumni University of Innsbruck alumni ETH Zurich alumni Operation Paperclip