Paul Rosbaud
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Paul Rosbaud (18 November 1896 – 28 January 1963), was an Austrian-born
metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...
and scientific adviser for
Springer Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...
in Germany before and during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He continued in science publishing after the war with
Pergamon Press Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier. History The c ...
in
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England. In 1986 Arnold Kramish revealed the
undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...
work of Rosbaud for the British during the war in the book ''The Griffin. The Greatest Untold Espionage Story of World War II''. It was Rosbaud who dispelled anxiety over a "German atom bomb".


Education

Paul Rosbaud was born in
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
, Austria. He was an illegitimate child. His mother taught the piano, and Paul's brother
Hans Rosbaud Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century. Biography Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with thei ...
became a famous conductor. Rosbaud served in the Austrian army during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
from 1915 to 1918. After the war ended his unit was taken prisoner of war by British forces; this experience gave him a liking for the British. He studied chemistry at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt beginning in 1920. He continued his studies at Kaiser Wilhelm Institut in Berlin. For his doctorate, Rosbaud studied
metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...
with Erich Schmid at Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg, and in 1925 Rosbaud and Schmid wrote "Über Verfestigung von Einkristallen durch Legierung und Kaltreekung" (translated title: "On strain hardening of crystals by alloying and cold stretching"), a frequently cited article. Rosbaud then became a "roving scientific talent scout" for the scientific periodical ''Metallwirtschaft''. In 1932 he began to work for publishing house
Springer Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...
.


Spy for Great Britain

Through his work at Springer Verlag, Rosbaud knew much of the scientific community in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and as a presumed
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
, he had sources of vital intelligence relating to weaponry. In 1935 he began to work for the journal ''
Naturwissenschaften ''The Science of Nature'', formerly ''Naturwissenschaften'', is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media covering all aspects of the natural sciences relating to questions of biological significance. I ...
''. In 1938, he had his Jewish wife Hilde, and their only daughter Angela, went to the UK to avoid Nazi harassment. Rosbaud was invited to stay in the UK, but he decided to keep working in Germany to undermine the Nazi regime. In addition to his own family, Rosbaud helped a number of other Jewish families flee the Nazis, including that of the well known physicist
Lise Meitner Elise Lise Meitner ( ; ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist who was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission. After completing her doctoral research in 1906, Meitner became the second woman ...
. He was assisted in his work saving Jews by the fact that he was being run as a British agent by Frank Foley, the MI6 station chief in Berlin. Eric Welsh and presumably also Foley were Rosbaud's contacts in
SIS Sis or SIS may refer to: People *Michael Sis (born 1960), American Catholic bishop Places * Sis (ancient city), historical town in modern-day Turkey, served as the capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. * Kozan, Adana, the current name ...
/MI6. Before the outbreak of war, Rosbaud hurried into print
Otto Hahn Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the field of radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and discoverer of nuclear fission, the science behind nuclear reactors and ...
's work on
nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactiv ...
in the German science journal ''Naturwissenschaften'' in January 1939. Rosbaud realized the vast destructive potential of what Hahn, Strassmann and Meitner had discovered, and he was acutely aware that the fundamental research had been done in Germany. He wanted the rest of the world to be aware of the significance of the work at least as soon as the Nazi planners did. By rushing Hahn's manuscript into print he was able to alert the physics community worldwide. Rosbaud was in
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
from August 26 to September 16, 1939, a few days before Frank Foley abandoned Berlin and transferred to Oslo. There Rosbaud visited
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 ...
, a geologist who studied the properties of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
and "super-uranium" (
plutonium Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...
). In Oslo Rosbaud also met Odd Hassel, an old acquaintance. Goldschmidt and Rosbaud were friends and when the persecution of Jews in Germany intensified in 1935, Rosbaud helped Goldschmidt flee Göttingen and return to Oslo. In late autumn 1939 Rosbaud again visited Oslo and urged Hassel to warn Norwegian authorities about a likely German invasion of Norway. During the German occupation of Norway, Rosbaud visited Oslo in German uniform and met Professor Tom Barth, who had connections with the resistance movement. Among the reports Rosbaud supplied to the British was that Germany was producing V2 rockets, and that the German project to develop a nuclear bomb was not successful. Rosbaud has also been connected to the " Oslo report", a detailed list of new German weapons systems, but this seems to have been the work of
Hans Ferdinand Mayer Hans Ferdinand Mayer (born 23 October 1895 in Pforzheim, Germany; died 18 October 1980 in Munich, West Germany) was a German mathematician and physicist. He was the author of the " Oslo Report", a major military intelligence leak which reveale ...
, technical director at
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
. Many of his intelligence reports were smuggled out of Germany by couriers working for the Norwegian intelligence organisation XU. Norwegians who were studying at technical schools in Germany, such as Sverre Bergh, linked up with Rosbaud and transported the intelligence to occupied Norway, and from there it was sent to neutral Sweden. One daring route involved a flight from Berlin to Oslo, with airport mechanics at each end helping to hide microfilms on the plane. Rosbaud supplied
Moe Berg Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American professional baseball catcher and coach in Major League Baseball who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He played 15 seasons in the majo ...
and Horace Calvert with a list of scientists in the Russian sector of Berlin when scientists were sought to join the victors after the war.


Pergamon Press co-founder and editor

After the war, Rosbaud took up residence in England. He worked for Butterworth-Springer, an Anglo-German publishing company set up in response to a Scientific Advisory Board that included Alfred Egerton,
Charles Galton Darwin Sir Charles Galton Darwin (19 December 1887 – 31 December 1962) was an English physicist who served as director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the Second World War. He was a son of the mathematician George Darwin and a gr ...
, Edward Salisbury, and
Alexander Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of wha ...
. When the Butterworth Company decided to pull out of the English/German liaison,
Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...
acquired 75% while 25% rested with Rosbaud. The company name was changed to
Pergamon Press Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier. History The c ...
; the partners, with their considerable language skills, cooperated to establish new
academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...
s until 1956.Joe Haines (1988) ''Maxwell'', Houghton Mifflin, After a disagreement, Rosbaud left. Maxwell said Rosbaud "was an outstanding editor of the European type from whom I learned some of the trade in the early days". In 1961 the
American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...
presented Paul Rosbaud with the first John Torrence Tate Medal, an "award for service to the profession of physics rather than research accomplishment".American Institute of Physic
Tate Medal Winners


See also

* Harteck Process * Karl Koecher


Notes and references

* Michael Smith (1999) "Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews", Hodder & Stoughton. Now republished by Politicos


External links


The Griffin
from the
Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues The Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues is a searchable collection of vetted annotations and bibliographic information for resources including books, articles, films, CD-ROMs, and websites pertaining to nuclear topics. Part of the United States ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosbaud, Paul 1896 births 1963 deaths Austrian chemists Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I German resistance members Austrian spies Engineers from Graz Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Technische Universität Berlin alumni World War II spies for the United Kingdom Austrian emigrants to Germany