Henry Ehrenreich

Henry Ehrenreich (May 11, 1928 – January 20, 2008) was an American physicist and Harvard professor who did research on semiconductors and solid-state physics.

After fleeing Germany as a child, his family settled in New York where he attended university. He conducted research in a laboratory for General Electric, and his expertise in semiconductors and the physics of materials allowed him to advise two US departments. As a professor, he devoted much effort to improve the quality of education, eventually becoming the first ombudsman for Harvard.

Personal life Henry Ehrenreich was born on May 11, 1928, in Frankfurt to German Jews Frieda and Nathan Ehrenreich. His father was a prominent pianist and choral conductor, but in 1934 lost his position under the Nazi regime and was deported to Dachau in the wake of the Kristallnacht. He was released on December 7, 1938, and was able to flee Germany ten days later.

Henry was able to flee Germany via the Kindertransport, and was first taken to a foster home in England, but was soon sent to another foster home in Letchworth due to the evacuation of children from London. His German-speaking foster family there held Nazi sympathies and mistreated him. After his mother fled Germany on August 24, 1939, shortly before war broke out, he was placed with another family in Ditchling, where they could visit. He was also an early adopter of e-mail and the World Wide Web, despite already being considered an "elder of the faculty" in 1996. He stated that he got a PowerBook because Macs were "for idiots" and "kind of lick your hands and are friendly", but was still asking people in the hall for technical help.

He died on January 20, 2008, in Belmont, leaving behind his wife Tema, his daughter, his two sons and 10 grandchildren. finishing it in 1955.

Ehrenreich was also part of a committee that decided on Free Speech Guidelines at Harvard in the wake of an intense debate about a Confederate Flag hung from a dorm room window in 1990. In February 2003, Ehrenreich and Lydia Cummings were appointed ombudsmen for Harvard university, promising a "safe haven" for people affected by problems stemming from the university, with the office remaining independent of Harvard's administrative structure. They handled around 150 cases during the first year.

Ehrenreich was critical of a distinction between "strategic" applied research and "curiosity-driven" basic research, recounting the freedom to choose his own projects at the General Electric lab, and pointing to advances in semiconductor science that he saw as the result of an open stance towards basic research during the 50s.