Franck, James (1882–1964)
German-born US physicist who, with Gustav Hertz,
experimented with electron bombardment of gases, providing support for theory
of atomic structure proposed by Niels Bohr
in the internal structure of the atom is quantized
(see quantum mechanics). Franck and Hertz
shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics for these studies on the changes
of energy occurring when atoms collide with electrons. In 1935 Franck when
to the USA and became a US citizen. He worked on the development of the
atom bomb with the Manhattan Project
but in 1945 drew up the "Franck petition" saying the bomb should not be
used against Japan. With Edward Condon,
he was responsible for the Franck-Condon principle, which
assumes that the nuclei in vibrating molecules do not have time to move
during electronic transitions.
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