Bethe and Peierls met in Sommerfeld’s seminar in Munich. Peierls wrote in his 1985 autobiography Bird of Passage: “For me the most important of the other students was undoubtedly Hans Bethe. He was one year my senior...we formed a close friendship, which has lasted until now, in spite of many geographical separations. When, during our student days, either or both of us were on vacation, we would correspond and exchange news about physics and other matters. At the time he had the habit of numbering all his letters consecutively. I still have his letter No. 710, starting with page 1,055. I do not know how long he kept this up.” Peierls later worked with Bethe at Los Alamos, and, in 1977, gave “the first set of Bethe lectures, in the Bethe Auditorium, with Hans Bethe sitting in the front row.”
Cite As:
Hans Bethe papers, #14-22-976. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
