nikolaus riehl received his doctorate in nuclear chemistry from the university of berlin in 1927, under the guidance of the nuclear physicist lise meitner and the nuclear chemist otto hahn. he initially took a position with "auergesellschaft", where he became an authority on luminescence. while he completed his habilitation, he continued his industrial career at auergesellschaft, as opposed to working in academia. from 1927, he was a staff scientist in the radiology department. from 1937, he was head of the optical engineering department. from 1939 to 1945, he was the director of the scientific headquarters.