Research

Lucy Mensing: Time in Munich, Königsberg, and Jena

SEP 16, 2025
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From left, Lucy Schütz, Jürgen Schütz, and Wilhelm Schütz.

AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Goudsmit Collection.

In 1929, Lucy and Wilhelm Schütz moved to Munich, where Gerlach succeeded Wilhelm Wien. In 1930, she published what would turn out to be her last paper and gave birth to her first child, Jürgen (1930–2018). The couple would have three more children: another son, Ulrich (1935–2022), and two daughters, Cornelie (born 1937) and Dorothea (born 1939). Jürgen and Ulrich both went into medical physics, Cornelie and Dorothea into pharmacy and medicine, respectively.

Cornelie and Dorothea were born in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), where Wilhelm Schütz was appointed professor in 1936. He replaced Walter Kaufmann, forced into early retirement by the Nazis. In August 1944, a bombing raid of the Royal Air Force destroyed the Schützes’ apartment and they went to Jena, where Wilhelm Schütz had set up a branch of his institute in Königsberg.


Cite this resource

Michel Janssen and Gernot Münster, “Lucy Mensing,” American Institute of Physics, 2025. http://www.aip.org/history/lucy-mensing.