Hans Geiger

Hans Geiger (1882–1945) was a German physicist, inventor, and university teacher. Born in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, he studied at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and completed his doctorate under Eilhard Wiedemann and Ernest Rutherford. He worked in the field of physics and is noted for the Geiger counter. His academic career included positions at the University of Tübingen, Kiel University, Technische Universität Berlin, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Geiger was a member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences. He was part of the German nuclear program during World War II. He received the Hughes Medal and the Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. His doctoral students included Ernst Stuhlinger, Walther Müller, and Otto Haxel. He died in Potsdam.