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Helmut Rauch

1939 – 2019

Physicist

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About Helmut Rauch

Lived 1939 – 2019 (aged 80). Helmut Rauch was an Austrian physicist, nuclear physicist and university teacher.

Helmut Rauch (22 January 1939 – 2 September 2019) was an Austrian physicist. He was especially known for his pioneering experiments on neutron interference.

Rauch studied Physics at Vienna University of Technology and worked at the there. He was also affiliated with the Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble.

In his Nobel Prize Lecture in 2022, Anton Zeilinger spoke about what his mentor, Helmut Rauch taught him. In a part of his speech, he said: "From my mentor, I learnt that you can have ideas. Which are wrong in a sense that the arguments are wrong but the idea is right. That intuition can be much stronger than a logic argument".

Neutron interference experiments In 1974, Rauch, together with Ulrich Bonse and Wolfgang Treimer, demonstrated the first matter wave interference of neutrons. This demonstrated the wave-like nature of neutrons for the first time and was another experimental proof that not only photons can be described by waves, but also massive particles. Further they demonstrated the fundamental symmetry of spin-1/2 particles under rotation.

Death Rauch died on 2 September 2019, aged 80, following a short illness in Vienna.

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Education
TU Wien, Vienna University of Technology
Awards
Great Silver Medal of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria; Wilhelm Exner Medal; Erwin Schrödinger Prize; Ernst Mach Medal; Prize of the City of Vienna for Natural Sciences; Austrian Decoration for Science and Art; Kardinal-Innitzer-Preis

People in Helmut Rauch's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Helmut Rauch's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Helmut Rauch?

physicist (1939–2019)

When was Helmut Rauch born?

Helmut Rauch was born on 22 January 1939 in Krems.

When did Helmut Rauch die?

Helmut Rauch died on 2 September 2019 in Vienna.

What was Helmut Rauch's occupation?

Helmut Rauch was a physicist, nuclear physicist and university teacher.

What nationality was Helmut Rauch?

Helmut Rauch was Austrian.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Helmut Rauch

· Wikidata: Q89298

· DBpedia: Helmut Rauch

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Helmut Rauch. https://biography.guide/helmut-rauch/

MLA: "Helmut Rauch." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/helmut-rauch/.

Chicago: "Helmut Rauch." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/helmut-rauch/.

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