Hiding a Nobel Prize From the Nazis

TL;DR

During World War II, chemist George de Hevesy dissolved Nobel medals made of gold to hide them from the Nazis, using aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid. He later retrieved the gold and returned it to its rightful owners.

Transcript

[♪ INTRO] It’s Germany in the 1930s. The Nazi party is gaining power, and two Nobel prize-winning physicists are getting very worried. One is Max von Laue, an outspoken opponent of the Nazis. The other is James Franck, who was a target because of his Jewish heritage. The Nazis are seizing items of value from anyone who isn’t also a Nazi. And Nobel ... Read More

Key Insights

• 🎖️ During World War II, Nobel medal owners sought ways to protect their valuable medals from being confiscated by the Nazis.
• 🏅 George de Hevesy, a chemist, used aqua regia to dissolve the gold medals, hiding them in a solution during the war.
• 🏅 Aqua regia, made from nitric and hydrochloric acid, was able to dissolve the gold by shifting the equilibrium of the reaction and removing gold ions from the solid metal.
• 🏅 After the war, de Hevesy retrieved the gold from the solution by reversing the reaction and returned it to the Nobel Foundation, who remade the medals.
• 😒 De Hevesy's use of chemistry and his knowledge of equilibrium reactions allowed the medals to be hidden and ultimately saved from the Nazis.
• 🙅 The story of de Hevesy's ingenious solution showcases the lengths individuals went to protect valuables during a time of conflict.
• 🛟 This historical event demonstrates the power of chemistry in solving real-world problems and the bravery of those who risked their lives to preserve knowledge and culture.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why did Max von Laue and James Franck send their Nobel medals to Niels Bohr?

They sent their medals to Niels Bohr to protect them from being seized by the Nazis, who were confiscating items of value from non-Nazi individuals.

Q: How did George de Hevesy dissolve the gold medals?

He used aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid, to dissolve the gold in the medals, creating a solution of gold ions and chloroauric acid.

Q: How did aqua regia work to dissolve the gold?

Aqua regia worked by using nitric acid to pry off gold atoms from the medal, which then reacted with chloride ions provided by the hydrochloric acid to form tetrachloroaurate, shifting the equilibrium of the reaction and allowing more gold to dissolve.

Q: How did George de Hevesy retrieve the gold from the solution?

De Hevesy used chemicals that could shift the equilibrium of the reaction in the opposite direction, causing the gold to precipitate out of the solution and return to its solid form.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• In Germany during the 1930s, as the Nazi party gained power, Max von Laue and James Franck sent their Nobel medals to Niels Bohr in Denmark to protect them from the Nazis.

• Chemist George de Hevesy, working with Bohr, dissolved the gold medals using aqua regia to hide them during Germany's invasion of Denmark in 1940.

• After the war, de Hevesy retrieved the gold from the solution and returned it to the Nobel Foundation, who remade the medals and returned them to their owners.