German physicist noted especially for his work with Otto Stern on the deflections of atoms in a nonhomogeneous magnetic field.

Educated at the University of Tübingen, he became a lecturer there in 1916; after periods at Göttingen and Frankfurt, he returned to Tübingen as professor of physics in 1925 and from 1929 to 1957 was professor of physics at Munich. He was best known for his part in the Stern-Gerlach experiment (q.v.), but he also made contributions in the fields of radiation, spectroscopy, and quantum theory. His books include Grundlagen der Quantentheorie (1921), Magnetismus (1931), Humaniora und Natur (1950), and Kepler und die Copernicanische Wende (1973).