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'{{Short description|Hungarian radiochemist (1885–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{redirect|de Hevesy|the asteroid|10444 de Hevesy}} {{Hungarian name|Hevesy György Károly}} {{Infobox scientist | name = George de Hevesy | birth_name = György Bischitz | image = George de Hevesy.jpg | image_size = | birth_date = {{birth date|1885|8|1|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Budapest]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1966|7|5|1885|8|1|df=y}} | death_place = [[Freiburg]], [[West Germany]] | citizenship = {{hlist|Hungary|Germany}} | nationality = | field = [[Chemistry]] | workplaces = [[Ghent University]]<br>[[Eötvös Loránd University|University of Budapest]]<br>[[Niels Bohr Institute]]<br>[[ETH Zürich]]<br>[[Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg|University of Freiburg]]<br>[[University of Manchester]]<br>Stefan Meyer Institute for Subatomic Physics | alma_mater = | doctoral_advisor = Georg Franz Julius Meyer | academic_advisors = [[Fritz Haber]]<br>[[Ernest Rutherford]] | doctoral_students = [[Rolf Hosemann]]<br>[[Johann Böhm]] | notable_students = [[Erika Cremer]] (postdoc) | known_for = {{unbulleted list|[[Hafnium]]|[[Radioactive tracer]]}} | prizes = [[Nobel Prize for Chemistry]] (1943)<br>[[Copley Medal]] (1949)<br>[[Faraday Lectureship Prize]] (1950)<br>[[Atoms for Peace Award]] (1958)<br>[[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<ref name="frs"/> | spouse = {{marriage|Pia Riis|1924}} | children = 4 | father = Lajos Bischitz | mother = Eugénia Schossberger | education = [[University of Budapest]]<br />[[Technische Universität Berlin]]<br />[[Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg|University of Freiburg]] }} '''George Charles de Hevesy''' (born '''György Bischitz'''; {{langx|hu|Hevesy György Károly}}; {{langx|de|Georg Karl von Hevesy}}; 1 August 1885 – 5 July 1966) was a Hungarian Jewish [[Radiochemistry|radiochemist]] and [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] laureate, recognized in 1943 for his key role in the development of [[radioactive tracer]]s to study chemical processes such as in the [[metabolism]] of animals. He also co-discovered the element [[hafnium]].<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Cockcroft | first1 = J. D. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1967.0007 | title = George de Hevesy 1885-1966 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 13 | pages = 125–126 | year = 1967 | s2cid = 122095945 | doi-access = }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF00253259 | last1 = Levi | first1 = H. | title = George von Hevesy memorial lecture. George Hevesy and his concept of radioactive indicators--in retrospect | journal = European Journal of Nuclear Medicine | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–10 | year = 1976 | pmid = 797570 | s2cid = 6640231 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Ostrowski | first1 = W. | title = George Hevesy inventor of isotope methods in biochemical studies | journal = Postepy Biochemii | volume = 14 | issue = 1 | pages = 149–153 | year = 1968 | pmid = 4870858 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dal Santo | first1 = G. | title = Professor George C. De Hevesy. In reverent memory | journal = Acta Isotopica | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 5–8 | year = 1966 | pmid = 4865432 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | title = George De Hevesy | journal = Triangle; the Sandoz Journal of Medical Science | volume = 91 | pages = 239–240 | year = 1964 | pmid = 14184278 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Weintraub|first=B. |title=George de Hevesy: Hafnium and Radioactive Traces; Chemistry |journal=Bull. Isr. Chem. Soc.| issue =18 |date=April 2005 |pages=41–43|url=https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1yz8B3IPltmYkVkUm4tNFFCQWc/edit }}</ref> ==Biography== ===Early years=== Hevesy György was born in [[Budapest]], [[Hungary]], to a wealthy and ennobled family of [[Hungarian-Jewish]] descent,<ref name=Hilger>{{Citation|last=Levi|first=Hilde|title=George de Hevesy : life and work : a biography|year=1985|publisher=A. Hilger|location=Bristol |isbn=978-0-85274-555-7|page=14}}</ref> the fifth of eight children to his parents Lajos Bischitz and Baroness Eugénia (Jenny) Schossberger (ennobled as "De Tornya"). Grandparents from both sides of the family had provided the presidents of the Jewish community of [[Pest, Hungary|Pest]].<ref name=Hilger/> His parents converted to [[Roman Catholicism]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/George-de-Hevesy-Nobel-Prize-in-Chemistry-1943/6000000013761368687|title=George de Hevesy, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1943|website=geni_family_tree|date=August 1885 }}</ref> George grew up in Budapest and graduated high school in 1903 from [[Piarists|Piarist Gimnázium]].<ref name="Gymnasium">{{citation |last1=Náray-Szabó |first1=Gábor |last2=G |first2=Palló |title=The Hungarian Gymnasium Educational Experience and Its Influence on the Global Power Shift |date=2012 |url=https://repozitorium.omikk.bme.hu/handle/10890/2248 |access-date=6 June 2023 |publisher=Global Science & Technology Forum |isbn=9780615573106 |language=en}}</ref> The family's name in 1904 was Hevesy-Bischitz, and Hevesy later changed his own. De Hevesy began his studies in chemistry at the [[University of Budapest]] for one year, and at the [[Technische Hochschule]] in Charlottenburg (now [[Technische Universität Berlin]]) for several months, but transferred to the [[Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg|University of Freiburg]]. There he met [[Ludwig Gattermann]]. In 1906, he started his Ph.D. thesis with Georg Franz Julius Meyer,<ref name=Norrby>{{Citation|last=Norrby|first=Erling|year=2013|title=Nobel Prizes and Nature's Surprises }}</ref> acquiring his doctorate in physics in 1908. In 1908, Hevesy was offered a position at the [[ETH Zürich]], Switzerland, yet being independently wealthy, he was able to choose his research environment. He worked first with [[Fritz Haber]] in [[Karlsruhe, Germany]], then with [[Ernest Rutherford]] in [[Manchester, England]], where he also met [[Niels Bohr]]. Back at home in [[Budapest]], he was appointed professor in [[physical chemistry]] in 1918. In 1920, he settled in Copenhagen. ===Research=== In 1922, de Hevesy co-discovered (with [[Dirk Coster]]) the element [[hafnium]] (₇₂Hf) ([[Latin]] ''Hafnia'' for "[[Copenhagen]]", the home town of [[Niels Bohr]]). [[Dmitri Mendeleev|Mendeleev]]'s 1869 [[periodic table]] arranged the chemical elements into a logical system, but a chemical element with 72 protons was missing. Hevesy determined to look for that element on the basis of Bohr's atomic model. The mineralogical museum of Norway and Greenland in Copenhagen furnished the material for the research. Characteristic [[X-ray spectrum|X-ray spectra]] recordings made of the sample indicated that a new element was present. The accepted account has been disputed by Mansel Davies and [[Eric Scerri]] who attribute the prediction that element 72 would be a [[transition element]] to the chemist Charles Bury.{{cn|date=February 2018}} Supported financially by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], Hevesy had a very productive year. He developed the [[X-ray fluorescence]] analytical method, and discovered the [[samarium]] alpha-ray. It was here he began the use of [[radioactive isotope]]s in studying the metabolic processes of plants and animals, by tracing chemicals in the body by replacing part of stable isotopes with small quantities of the radioactive isotopes. In 1923, Hevesy published the first study on the use of the naturally radioactive ²¹²Pb as radioactive tracer to follow the absorption and [[Translocation (botany)|translocation]] in the roots, stems and leaves of [[Vicia faba]], also known as the broad bean.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Myers | first1 = W. G.|title = Georg Charles de Hevesy: The father of nuclear medicine | journal = Journal of Nuclear Medicine |volume = 20|issue = 6|pages = 590–594|year = 1979|pmid = 395289}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Hevesy | first1 = G.|title = The Absorption and Translocation of Lead by Plants: A Contribution to the Application of the Method of Radioactive Indicators in the Investigation of the Change of Substance in Plants|journal = The Biochemical Journal|volume=17|issue=4–5|pages=439–445|year=1923|pmid=16743235|pmc=1263906|doi=10.1042/bj0170439}}</ref> Later, in 1943, the work on radioactive tracing would earn Hevesy the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1943/hevesy/facts/|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1943|website=NobelPrize.org}}</ref> In 1924, Hevesy returned to Freiburg as Professor of Physical Chemistry. In 1930, he went to [[Cornell University, Ithaca]] as Baker Lecturer. In 1934, after the Nazis came to power in Germany, he returned to Niels Bohr's Institute at the University of Copenhagen. In 1936, he invented [[Neutron activation analysis|Neutron Activation Analysis]]. In 1943 he fled to Stockholm (Sweden being neutral during the war), where he an associate of the Institute of Research in Organic Chemistry. In 1949 he was elected Franqui Professor in the [[University of Ghent]]. In his retirement, he remained an active scientific associate of the [[University of Stockholm]]. ==World War II and beyond== [[File:Georg und Pia von Hevesy Stolpersteine.jpg|thumb|[[Stolperstein]]e memorials for Georg and his wife Pia de Hevesy in Freiburg]] Prior to the onset of World War II, [[Max von Laue]] and [[James Franck]] had sent their gold [[Nobel Prize]] medals to [[Denmark]] to keep them from being confiscated by the Nazis. After the [[Denmark in World War II|Nazi invasion of Denmark]] this placed them in danger; it was illegal at the time to send gold out of Germany, and were it discovered that Laue and Franck had done so, they could have faced prosecution. To prevent this, de Hevesy concealed the medals by dissolving them in [[aqua regia]] and placing the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the [[Niels Bohr Institute]] in Copenhagen. After the war, he returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The Nobel Society then recast the medals using the recovered gold and returned them to the two laureates.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://archive.org/stream/adventuresinradi01heve#page/27/mode/1up/search/medals |title=Adventures in radioisotope research|first=George |last=Hevesy|publisher=Pergamon press|location=New York|year=1962|volume=1|page=27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | publisher = The Nobel Foundation | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/medals/ | author = Birgitta Lemmel | title = The Nobel Prize Medals and the Medal for the Prize in Economics | year = 2006}}</ref> By 1943, Copenhagen was no longer safe for a Jewish scientist and de Hevesy fled to Sweden, where he worked at the [[University of Stockholm]] until 1961. In Stockholm, de Hevesy was received at the department of chemistry by the Swedish professor and Nobel Prize winner [[Hans von Euler-Chelpin]], who remained strongly pro-German throughout the war. Despite this, de Hevesy and von Euler-Chelpin collaborated on many scientific papers during and after the war. While in Stockholm, de Hevesy received the Nobel Prize in chemistry. He was later inducted into the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] and received the [[Copley Medal]], of which he was particularly proud. De Hevesy stated: "The public thinks the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the highest honor that a scientist can receive, but it is not so. Forty or fifty have received Nobel chemistry prizes, but there are only ten foreign members of the Royal Swedish Academy, and only two have received a Copley." (Bohr was the other one.) He received the [[Atoms for Peace Award]] in 1958 for his peaceful use of [[radioactive isotope]]s. ==Family life and death== [[Image:Hevesy György sírja.jpg|thumb|George de Hevesy's grave in Budapest. Cemetery Kerepesi: 27 Hungarian Academy of Sciences.]] De Hevesy married Pia Riis in 1924. They had one son and three daughters together, one of whom (Eugenie) married a grandson of the Swedish Nobel laureate [[Svante Arrhenius]].<ref>Scripps Log obituaries, http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/biogr/ScrippsLogObits.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021095235/http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/biogr/ScrippsLogObits.pdf |date=21 October 2020 }}</ref> De Hevesy died in 1966 at the age of eighty and was buried in Freiburg. In 2000, his body was moved to the [[Kerepesi Cemetery]] in Budapest, Hungary. He had published a total of 397 scientific documents, one of which was the Becquerel-Curie Memorial Lecture, in which he had reminisced about the careers of pioneers of radiochemistry.<ref>{{Citation|pmid=13714019|year=1961|last1=De Hevesy|first1= George C.|title=Marie Curie and her contemporaries|volume=2|pages=169–82|journal=Journal of Nuclear Medicine|url=http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/25/1/116.full.pdf}}</ref> At his family's request, his ashes were interred at his birthplace in Budapest on 19 April 2001. On 10 May 2005 the Hevesy Laboratory<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150402100449/http://www.nutech.dtu.dk/english/Research/Hevesy-Laboratory Hevesy Laboratory]</ref> was founded at [[Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy|Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy]], now [[Technical University of Denmark]], DTU Nutech. It was named after George de Hevesy as the father of the isotope tracer principle under the initiative of the lab's first director, Prof. Mikael Jensen. ==See also== * [[August Krogh]] <!--collab.--> * [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]] * [[Johanna Bischitz de Heves]] * [[10444 de Hevesy]] * [[Hevesy (crater)]] * [[The Martians (scientists)]] *[[Hungarian Nobel Prize winners]] {{clear}} ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==External links== *{{commonscat-inline|George de Hevesy}} * {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture on 12 December 1944 ''Some Applications of Isotopic Indicators'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060828134207/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people%2FHevesy%2C+George+de Annotated bibliography for George de Hevesy from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues] * {{Internet Archive author |sname= |sopt=w}} {{Copley Medallists 1901-1950}} {{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1926-1950}} {{1943 Nobel Prize winners}} {{Hungarian Nobel Laureates}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hevesy, George De}} [[Category:1885 births]] [[Category:1966 deaths]] [[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]] [[Category:Hungarian Nobel laureates]] [[Category:Nobel laureates from Austria-Hungary]] [[Category:Jewish chemists]] [[Category:Scientists from Budapest]] [[Category:Hungarian Jews]] [[Category:Hungarian Roman Catholics]] [[Category:Hungarian physical chemists]] [[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]] [[Category:Atoms for Peace Award recipients]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:University of Freiburg alumni]] [[Category:Technische Universität Berlin alumni]] [[Category:Nobility from Budapest]] [[Category:Hungarian expatriates in Sweden]] [[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Discoverers of chemical elements]] [[Category:Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery]] [[Category:Niels Bohr International Gold Medal recipients]] [[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]] [[Category:Medicinal radiochemistry]] [[Category:People from Tura, Hungary]] [[Category:Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism]] [[Category:Hungarian expatriates in Denmark]] [[Category:Recipients of the Cothenius Medal]]'