Felix Auerbach

Felix Auerbach (12 November 1856 – 26 February 1933) was a German physicist.

Auerbach was born in Breslau (today Wrocław) on 12 November 1856. His father, Leopold Auerbach, was a respected physician and professor of medicine at the University of Breslau. His mother was Arabella Auerbach, née Hess. From her, he acquired the talent and love for music that accompanied him throughout his life. Felix was the eldest of six siblings. The chemist, Friedrich Auerbach (1870-1925), and Wroclaw pianist, Max Auerbach, (born 1872), were his younger brothers.

Felix Auerbach received his humanistic education from 1865 to 1873 at Mary Magdalene School in his home town. After leaving school, at the age of 16, he went to study at the universities of Breslau, Heidelberg - with Gustav Robert Kirchhoff - and Berlin - with Hermann Helmholtz. Under Helmholtz, he received his doctorate in 1875. The title of his dissertation The nature of vocal sounds demonstrated his interest in the physics of music and acoustics. In 1879, Felix Auerbach became an assistant to Oskar Emil Meyer at the physics department of the University of Wroclaw and in 1880 he became a lecturer there.

In 1883, he married Anna Silbergleit (1860-1933), later a board member of the Central German Women's Union and campaigner for women's suffrage. The marriage remained childless.

In 1889, Auerbach took over the professorship of theoretical physics at the University of Jena which had been established by Ernst Abbe. As a Jew he was initially refused a full professorship; it was not until 1923 that this was granted to him." He became professor emeritus in 1927.

From 1906 to about 1914, with his sister-in-law, Käthe Auerbach (1871-1940), he took on the education of the children of his brother, Max Auerbach: Klaus, Günther, Johannes and Cornelia (later wife of Hanning Schröder).

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