Which foundation created a 1933 fund that Bohr used to help refugee academics?
Answer
Rockefeller Foundation
Answer
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation created the 1933 fund that Niels Bohr used to help refugee academics. After the Nazis purged Jewish and politically disfavored scholars from German universities, the foundation established a program to support displaced researchers and help institutions employ them.
Bohr discussed the program with Rockefeller Foundation president Max Mason during a 1933 visit to the United States. Back in Copenhagen, he offered refugee scientists temporary positions at his institute, helped secure financial assistance, and arranged Rockefeller fellowships that could support them until they found permanent posts elsewhere.
Among the scientists associated with Bohr’s rescue efforts were Guido Beck, Felix Bloch, James Franck, George de Hevesy, Otto Frisch, Lise Meitner, Edward Teller, and Victor Weisskopf. Several later became leading figures in nuclear physics and the Manhattan Project.
The common mix-up is with the Carlsberg Foundation, which had long supported Bohr and his Copenhagen institute. Carlsberg was important to Bohr’s scientific work, but the 1933 refugee-academic fund named in this question was created by the Rockefeller Foundation.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026