Georg von Hevesy developed radioactive tracer analysis, a method widely used in chemistry and medicine. For this accomplishment, which had far-reaching consequences in physiology, biochemistry, and mineralogy, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1943. Hevesy was also the co-discoverer of the element hafnium.

Georg Charles von Hevesy was born in Budapest, Hungary, on August 1, 1885, to Louis Bisicz and his wife, the former Baroness Eugenie Schosberger. The family, who was given a title by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1895, first changed their name to Hevesy-Bisicz and then simplified it to Hevesy; Hevesy always used the "von" in German correspondence and publications. (Many sources refer to him as "de Hevesy," while his first name often appears as "George" or "György.") Both sides of the family were well-to-do; facing no financial obstacles, Hevesy moved smoothly through the Piarist Gymnasium in Budapest, then studied physics and chemistry at...