Hermann Arthur Jahn

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Hermann Arthur Jahn (31 May 1907 – 24 October 1979) was a British scientist of German descent. He is best known for describing the Jahn–Teller effect, a concept in chemistry and physics, together with Edward Teller.

Early life
He was born in Colchester, England, the son of Friedrich Wilhelm Hermann Jahn and Marion May Curtiss. He studied at City School in Lincoln, then earned a BSc in chemistry at University College London in 1928. He completed his PhD at the University of Leipzig under Werner Heisenberg in 1935; his dissertation explored the rotation and oscillation of the methane molecule.

Career
From 1935 to 1941 Jahn worked at the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, Royal Institution in London. From 1941 to 1946 he was at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. He became the first Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Southampton, a post he held from 1949 to 1972. He published widely on quantum mechanics and group theory.

Personal life
Jahn married Karoline Schüler in 1943. They had a son (born 1944) and a daughter (born 1946). He died in Southampton in 1979 at the age of 72.