Otto Stern was born in Sorau, Upper Silesia, Germany, on
February 17, 1888. In 1892 he moved with his parents to Breslau,
where he attended high school. He began to study physical
chemistry in 1906, receiving his Ph.D. degree from the
University of Breslau in 1912. In the same year he joined
Einstein at the University of Prague and later followed him to
the University of Zurich, where he became Privatdocent of
Physical Chemistry at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule
in 1913. In 1914, he went to the University of Frankfurt am Main
as Privatdocent of Theoretical Physics, remaining there until
1921, except for a period of military service. From 1921 to
1922, he was Associate Professor of Theoretical Physics at the
University of Rostock, becoming, in 1923, Professor of Physical
Chemistry and Director of the laboratory at the University of
Hamburg, where he remained until 1933. After resigning from his
post at the University of Hamburg in 1933, he became professor
of physics at the Carnegie Institute of Tech