BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:
Working in Lord Rutherford's laboratory in Manchester (1913) this
Hungarian-born scientist initiated the method of radioactive indicators
as a tool in chemical analysis. After the First World War he spent six
years at Niels Bohr's Institute in Denmark and, together with the Dutch
physicist D. Coster, discovered a hitherto unknown element which was
given the Latin name of Copenhagen: "Hafnium". In the 1930s Hevesy
returned to Copenhagen and developed the tracer technique in biological
and medical research using artificially produced radioactive isotopes.
The wide applicability of this technique triggered spectacular advances
in the life sciences and many other branches of science and technology.
Hevesy was awarded the 1943 Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1944.
DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION:
Correspondence with Hans von Euler about their experiments on induced
cancer; correspondence with Charles Huggins (restricted); papers on the
discovery and application of hafnium (e.g. Auer Gesellschaft, Philips,
Metropolitan--Vickers); newspaper cuttings, honours and prizes; old
bills; proofs for "Radioactive Indicators" and "Lehrbuch der
Radioaktivität"; box of Hevesy's notebooks - from earlier times as well
as from Hilde Levi's experiments in the 1930s; various scientific
notes, e.g. For Hevesy's autobiography and his history of the discovery
of hafnium.
13 boxes
Lists of contents
Mainly German, Danish, Swedish and English