Origins & Early Life

Peter Andreas Grünberg (German: [ˈpeːtɐ ˈɡʁyːnbɛʁk] ; 18 May 1939 – 7 April 2018) was a German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Albert Fert of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disk drives. Grünberg was born in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, which at the time was known as Pilsen in the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech Republic) to the Sudeten German family of Anna and Feodor A. Grünberg. They first lived in Dýšina to the east of Plzeň.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Grünberg was a Catholic. After the war, the family was interned; the parents were brought to a camp. His father, a Russia-born engineer who since 1928 had worked for Škoda, died on 27 November 1945 in Czech imprisonment and is buried in a mass grave in Plzeň which is also inscribed with Grünberg Theodor † 27. November 1945. His mother Anna (who died in 2002 aged 100) had to work in agriculture and stayed with her parents in the Petermann house in Untersekerschan (Dolní Sekyřany), where her children (Peter's sister was born in 1937) were brought later.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The remaining Grünberg family, like almost all Germans, was expelled from Czechoslovakia...

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