Gerhard H. Dieke, an authority on spectroscopy and solid state physics, was born in Rheda, Germany in 1901. He attended the University of Leiden, Holland and received a Ph.D. in physics at the University of California in 1926. After completing his graduate studies, he worked at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Tokyo and the University of Groningen in Holland. Dr. Dieke joined the Department of Physics at Johns Hopkins in 1930 as an associate professor, and he later served as chairman of the department, 1950-1965. He was recognized as one of the pioneers in investigating the structure of atoms and molecules by spectroscopic methods. Dr. Dieke's last project at Hopkins included work on the ruby laser whose high-energy beams of light could be used in both the fields of surgery and communications. In 1965, Dr. Dieke attended the Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics, and he died in Aberdeen, Scotland, August 26, 1965.

Dr. Dieke was married to fellow scientist, Sally Harrison Dieke (1913-1989) who also had ties to the University. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Hopkins in 1938 and was a Research Fellow in the History of Science, 1966-1989. Dr. Sally Dieke taught astronomy at Goucher College, Morgan State College, and the University of Maryland. Her bequest to the University included an endowment for the Gerhard H. Dieke Professorship in Physics and Astronomy, established in 1990, as a memorial to her husband.