Laue, Max Theodor Felix von, << LOW uh, mahks TAY oh `dohr` FAY lihks fuhn >> (1879-1960), a German physicist, received the 1914 Nobel Prize in physics for his research in X-ray diffraction. Von Laue discovered that X rays might be diffracted (bent) by certain crystals such as rock salt. This made it possible to measure wave lengths of X rays and to study the relative position of atoms within a crystal. He also contributed to the theory of relativity. He was born in Pfaffendorf, near Koblenz.
