James Franck

James Franck (1882–1964) was a physicist, chemist, and university teacher who worked in the field of physics. Born in Hamburg, he held citizenship in Hamburg, the Weimar Republic, and the United States. He was educated at Heidelberg University and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where his doctoral advisors were Emil Warburg and Paul Drude. Franck served as a doctoral student to Fritz Houtermans, Hans Kopfermann, Wilhelm Hanle, and Heinz Maier-Leibnitz. He was employed by Johns Hopkins University, the University of Göttingen, the University of Chicago, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Franck participated in World War I and the Manhattan Project. He was a member of the Royal Society, the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony. His awards included the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Max Planck Medal, the Rumford Prize, and the Dannie Heineman Prize. He was married to Hertha Sponer and died in Göttingen.