What made Born a great humanitarian as well as a great scientist?
From the beginning of the Nazis takeover, Born knew that younger physicists would have difficulty finding positions. He took immediate responsibility for those close to him, including Edward Teller, and was successful in placing them. Once in Cambridge, Born became the physics representative to two organizations that placed exiled scientists and spent much of his time looking for positions for them. This role was not new to him. During World War I, he had recruited young physicists to his research lab in Berlin to save them from the front lines. In the inflation years of the 1920s, he had raised funds to keep his assistants from starving. No plea went unanswered, whether for money, a position, or help in getting someone out of a desperate situation. After the war, Born spoke out on the dangers of nuclear weapons. He depicted science as a decisive factor in the power politics of the states” and urged West German physicists to confront these moral issues. He collaborated with Bertrand Ru
