About Wolfgang Paul
Wolfgang Paul (German pronunciation: [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ ˈpaʊ̯l]; 10 August 1913 – 7 December 1993) was a German physicist, who co-developed the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter which laid the foundation for what is now called an ion trap. He shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989 for this work with Hans Georg Dehmelt; the other half of the Prize in that year was awarded to Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr. == Early life == Wolfgang Paul was born on 10 August 1913 in Lorenzkirch, Germany. He grew up in Munich where his father was a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry. After the first few years at the Technical University of Munich, he changed to Technische Universität Berlin in 1934 where he finished his Diploma in 1937 at the group of Hans Geiger. He followed his doctorate adviser Hans Kopfermann to the University of Kiel, and after being drafted to the air force, he finished his PhD in 1940 at Technische Universität Berlin. During World War II, he researched isotope separation, which is necessary to produce fissionable material for use in making nuclear weapons. == Academic career == For several years, he was a private lecturer at the University of Göttingen with Hans Kopfermann. He became a professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Bonn and stayed there from 1952 until 1993. For two years, from 1965 to 1967, he was director of the Division of Nuclear Physics at CERN. In 1970, he spent some weeks as Morris Loeb lecturer at Harvard University.
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