John W. Cahn

John Werner Cahn (January 9, 1928 – March 14, 2016) was an American scientist and recipient of the 1998 National Medal of Science. Born in Cologne, Weimar Germany, he was a professor in the department of metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1964 to 1978. From 1977, he held a position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly the National Bureau of Standards). Cahn had a profound influence on the course of materials research during his career. One of foremost authorities on thermodynamics, Cahn applied the basic laws of thermodynamics to describe and predict a wide range of physical phenomena.

Hans Werner Cahn was born in Cologne, Germany, to a Jewish family. His father was an anti-Nazi lawyer and his mother an X-ray technician.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, and the elder Cahn escaped arrest only because he had been forewarned by a fellow lawyer. The family fled Germany and eventually ended up in Amsterdam. They emigrated to America in 1939, where Hans became John. Most of his family back in Europe perished in the Holocaust.

The Cahns settled in New York City. John Cahn became an American citizen in 1945. Serving in the United States Army, he was stationed in Japan during its occupation by the Allies.

Cahn received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1949 from the University of Michigan. He later earned a Ph.D in physical chemistry in 1953 from the University of California at Berkeley. His doctoral thesis was titled "The Oxidation of Isotopically Labelled Hydrazine" and his thesis advisor was R. E. Powell.

...
Wikipedia