Highlighting the atoms
On 17 August 1912, Max von Laue, Arnold Sommerfeld’s assistant in Munich, applies for a grant of 4,000 marks (i.e. about 1,321,840 Belgian francs or 32,800 euros in 2017) to continue studying one of his recent discoveries: X-ray diffraction by crystals. It is an extraordinary breakthrough: Max von Laue has managed to reveal the presence of atoms and their regular arrangement in a crystalline network!
One month later, Max von Laue receives the 5,000 Belgian francs (i.e. about 1,321,840 Belgian francs or 32,800 euros in 2017) taken from a budget of 40,800 Belgian francs (i.e. about 10,786,200 Belgian francs or 267,648 euros in 2017).
Max von Laue and the Braggs are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 and 1915.
