Background
Hans Motz was born in Vienna, and died in Oxford, England.
Hans Motz was born in Vienna, and died in Oxford, England.
On October 19, 1942, he spoke on the topic “Is a ‘Mechanistic’ View of the Universe Scientifically Tenable?” at the Socratic Club in Oxford. In 1977 he became the only Full Professor (at that time) in the Department of Engineering. He has written a number of books, including The Physics of Laser Fusion, and a book on microwave theory.
He is also a coauthor with Paolo Luchini of the book Undulators and Free-electron Lasers.
In the early 1960s he had a grant from Rand corporation to see how much classified nuclear physics he could rediscover using an electronic computer. There was a feeling that freer access would allow the United States nuclear power industry to develop more quickly.
Using Oxford University"s Feranti Mercury computer he was able to rediscover essentially all of the basics, and these were subsequently declassified and taught in university nuclear engineering programs.
In 1958 he was the Donald Pollock Reader in the Department of Engineering at Oxford University and also a member of Street Catherine"s Society, Oxford, which became Street Catherine"s College, Oxford in 1962, at which time he became a Fellow.