Sir Rudolph (Rudy) Ernest Peierls was born in Berlin. He studied at Berlin, Munich, and Leipzig, becoming Pauli's assistant at Zurich. He travelled widely before becoming a professor at Birmingham University (1937-63), Oxford University (1963-74), and the University of Washington, Seattle (1974-7). He applied quantum theory to solids and to magnetic effects, and then turned to nuclear physics. In 1940 with Dr Frisch he reported to the British government that an atomic bomb based on uranium fission was feasible, and worked on what became known as the Manhattan project throughout World War 2.
In 1961 he was appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics at Birmingham University. His group of theorists worked in the area of nuclear and high energy physics.
He was a founder member of the Atlas Computer Committee in 1961. He took over the Chair from Lord Halsbury in 1970 and was succeeded by Professor Herman Bondi in 1972.
