Hedwig Kohn: the physical pioneer who survived the Nazi regime and pays homage to Google in his scribble

The Jewish ancestry of Hedwing Kohn, a German scientist and founder of research in atomic and molecular spectroscopy, has not been a great ally in her life, under the Nazi regime, he had to flee to survive.

However, for his courage, perseverance and good humorhe has held a place in the great contributions of science. Therefore, the Google doodle commemorates today the 132nd anniversary of the birth of Kohn (1887-1964).

Hedwing Kohn was born on April 5, 1887 in Breslau, today Poland, an important city of Nazi Germany. Always applied in studies, Physics entered the university in 1907shortly before women can enroll in university. Although we currently recognize this action as intrepid, It was not easy for her because at first she was not allowed to go to school officially, so she had to do it as a guest.

Despite the obstacles to studying women, Kohn became badistant to Otto Lummer, famous for the accuracy of his radiation measurements. Thus, during the First World War (1914-1918), he worked with several students of PhD and was rewarded for this work.

But soon, with the bans of Adolf Hitler, She was dismissed from office in 1933. Although he was able to survive, his situation became more and more precarious, almost to the same degree to be a victim of the Holocaust (extermination of persons for racial reasons).

Seven years later, managed to emigrate to Sucia in 1940and finally he got a visa for the United States, where he moved to College of Women of the University of North Carolina, in Greensboro, then to the Mbadachusetts School.

Almost until the end of his life, Kohn arrived in a laboratory where he worked independently. In 1952 he retired.

The double challenge: How to survive as a woman and Jewish in Nazi Germany.

The quiet and delicate life of Hedwig Kohn did not last long because when he was in Germany and already with his university degree in stock market, he realized that the jobs were reserved for menso she had to wait many years before being officially qualified to teach.

Despite to be recognized for his merits in his country he was found nearly 50 years persecuted, and without a work permit to leave the Nazi regime and be a big unknown in the world