Walter Gerlach

Walter Gerlach was a German physicist and university teacher specializing in theoretical physics, experimental physics, nuclear physics, and magnetism. Born in Wiesbaden in 1889, he studied at the University of Tübingen under doctoral advisor Friedrich Paschen. His academic career included positions at the University of Tübingen, Goethe University Frankfurt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the University of Göttingen. He worked in Tübingen and Munich and was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Göttingen Eighteen, and the International Academy of the History of Science.

Gerlach participated in World War I and was involved in Operation Epsilon and the Alsos Mission. He received the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Harnack medal, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. He died in Munich in 1979. His doctoral students included Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber and Heinz Billing. In addition to his scientific work, he is listed as an author of works such as *Schwarzbuch Rassismus*, *Die Entstehungszeit der Stadtbefestigungen in Deutschland*, and *Das neue Lexikon des Aberglaubens*.