A prestigious Nobel Prize awarded to a physicist who was saved by Britain from the Nazis is being sold by his family for £200,000.
Walter Kohn (a Jewish man) was only 15 years of age when Austria was annexed to Germany by Adolf Hitler.
Minna, his brother and sister, escaped to safety through Kindertransport. This programme provided safe passage for almost 10,000 children into the UK. But their parents were murdered during the Holocaust.
Kohn was born in Austria and was therefore transported to Canada at the start of the Second World War.
There he studied before deciding to go to Harvard University, the US, and begin his academic career.
He was made a US citizen, and he taught at the University of California.
A major breakthrough in “density functional theory” led to him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in Chemistry in 1998.
A prestigious Nobel Prize awarded to a physicist who was saved by Britain from the Nazis is being sold by his family for £200,000. Walter Kohn (pictured in Vienna, aged 14), was a Jewish boy who was fifteen years old at the time his native Austria was annexed to Adolf Hitler’s hands in 1938.
Kohn’s major contribution to ‘density functionality theory’ was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in Chemistry in 1998.
Kohn, pictured above, is seen hugging Mara in Santa Barbara at home. He had just been informed that he was the winner of the Nobel Prize.
It was possible, thanks to this method, to determine quantum mechanical electronic structures using equations that include the electronic density.
This method was used to perform quantum calculations in biology, chemistry, and other sciences.
On the medal in 18-carat gold, Alfred Nobel’s portrait is on the front and the goddess Isis the reverse.
A plaque is below that has Kohn’s name and the Roman numerals 1998.
Kohn, who was 93 years old in 2016, died. His Nobel Prize has been sold by US auctioneers Nate D Sanders of California.
Three science books, which he also bought while in Canada in temporary internment camps, are included in this sale. They were what fueled his curiosity about the topic.
Walter, his sister Minna and their parents are pictured in Vienna. They fled Austria via the Kindertransport program. This programme provided safe passage for almost 10,000 children to the UK. However, their parents were murdered during World War II.
Kohn was in Canada’s Army in 1944. Kohn, who was 93 years old in 2016, died. His Nobel Prize will now be sold by US-based auctioneers Nate D Sanders of California.
Because of his Canadian nationality, and because the war was still ongoing, he was made to stay in camp.
Nate D Sanders spokeswoman said that Walter Kohn won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998 for Chemistry because of its scientific significance, as well as for the life experiences he had during World War Two when he was one of the Kindertransport children who were rescued from Nazi-occupied areas.
The United Kingdom established ‘Kindertransport in 1938, immediately following the German “Night of Broken Glass”, pogrom. This allowed for the safe entry of nearly 10,000 children to the UK.
“The children were put in homes across the British Empire, and Kohn eventually found a place in Canada. His parents died in the Holocaust.
Kohn with his family as a kid at the Baltic house in Herringsdorf.
Three science books, which he also bought while in Canada in an internment camp, are included in the sale. They were what fueled his curiosity about this subject.
Nate Sanders, auctioneer, added that Walter Kohn would not have made it to Britain during World War Two. It is unimaginable.
“This Nobel Prize proves that humanity is capable of great knowledge.
On November 15, 1938, a delegation from British, Jewish, and Quaker leaders met with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to ask him for temporary admission to unaccompanied Jewish children.
Parliament passed the bill and Jewish children were placed in homes, school, or hostels by Britons.
This timed sale will end on January 27,