Upright in the storm of time. The physicist James Franck 1882-1964

For the 125th birth day of James Franck in the year 2007 for the first time a scientific biography is presented. Born in Hamburg Franck dedicated himself to the exploration of the atom. Together with Gustav Hertz he succeeded in exciting of bound electrons by collision, whereby the atomic model of Bohr was confirmed. For this both got the Nobel price for the year 1925. Starting from 1921 Franck founded together with Max Born and Robert Pohl the world-wide reputation of Goettingen as a center of physical research. 1933 Franck resigned because of protest against the antisemitic policy of the Nazis and imigrated to the USA. There he dedicated himself to the exploration of the foundation of the photosynthesis. To the request to contribute the the construction of the atomic bomb the Hitler opponent not denied, but wrote after the German capitulation the Franck report in May 1945, in which he described impressively the arguments against the application of the bomb and warned for a nuclear armament race. Although he was because of the great crime of the Nazi regime very critical against the Germans soon after the war he stood up - very to the indignation of his friend Einstein - for the reconcilement and visited Germany and his friends there still several times. 1964 he died at a visit in Goettingen