Otto Stern was born in Sohrau, Upper Silesia, Germany (later Zory, Poland), on February 17, 1888. When he was four years old, his family moved to Breslau (later Wroclaw, Poland), where he attended the local Johannes Gymnasium. Most of Stern's training in science came from his home, where books, conversation and even some simple experimentation were the primary means of instruction.

As was common at the time, Stern traveled to a number of universities for his further education after graduating from the gymnasium in 1906. Finally, he undertook a doctoral program in chemistry at Breslau. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1912 for a thesis on the kinetic theory of osmotic pressure in concentrated solutions. Through his professor's influence, Stern was able to take a position as research assistant to Albert Einstein from 1912 to 1914, first in Prague and later in Zürich, at the Federal Institute of Technology.

With the...