Albert Einstein is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest minds. In 1916, he published his theory of general relativity, which revolutionized theoretical physics. In 1917, he was named director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. In 1921, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. However, he did not actually receive the prize until 1922. During the Weimar era, Einstein became active in politics, alongside his scientific work. Accordingly, he worked to promote the founding of the left-wing liberal DDP party in 1918 and was a member of the league for human rights. Together with other Weimar-era intellectuals, he signed the Urgent Call of 1932 for a joint alliance of left-wing forces against national socialism. After the Nazis seized power, he went into exile, continuing his teaching and research at the elite American university Princeton.

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Bergius’ father was a Silesian factory owner. His family had brought forth numerous achievements in the sciences. In 1903, he started studying chemistry and technology at the University of Breslau, where he attained his doctorate in 1907. In 1912, after obtaining his post-doctorate qualification required for professorship, he became an instructor at the Technical University for Physical Chemistry. He was specialized in the synthesis of chemical bonds via the chemical high-pressure method. In this area, he managed to produce diesel oil under high pressure using coal and oxygen as well as to develop a more efficient method to transform wood into sugar. In 1931, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, together with Carl Bosch, for his achievements in this area. Yet his business activities were less successful. Accordingly, despite the services he rendered to science, he sank deeply into debt. He spent the last years of his life, after the war, in Buenos Aires, where he died in 1949.

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Heisenberg came from a Bavarian family of scholars. After qualifying for university studies, he first studied mathematics before transferring to physics. He was already finished with his doctorate in 1932, at the University of Munich, where he finished his post-doctorate qualification the following year, entitling him to teach at the university level. At the ripe age of 26, Heisenberg became a professor at the University of Leipzig, where he and his colleague Friedrich Hund turned his department into an international center for theoretical physics. In 1932, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in quantum mechanics, yet above all for the uncertainly principle he postulated. During the Third Reich, unlike many other scientists and despite numerous threats, he did not emigrate. Instead, he cooperated with the regime within the framework of the Uranium Project in 1941. After the war, he continued teaching and researching at various universities and institutions. In the young Federal Republic of Germany, he promoted the use of nuclear energy for civil purposes.

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