Paul Oppenheim

Paul Oppenheim was a German chemist, philosopher, independent scholar, and industrialist, born on June 17, 1885, in Frankfurt am Main. He passed away on June 22, 1977, in Princeton, New Jersey. Oppenheim studied natural sciences and chemistry at the University of Freiburg, earning doctorates in both chemistry and philosophy. He was involved in the chemical industry with IG Farben until 1933, after which he emigrated to Brussels. In 1933, his parents died by suicide. In 1939, Oppenheim and his family relocated to the United States, where he worked as a private scholar in Princeton. His home there became a gathering place for intellectuals and artists, notably hosting his close friend Albert Einstein for regular Sunday walks. Oppenheim also provided financial and logistical support to persecuted scientists fleeing Nazi Germany, including Carl Gustav Hempel and Kurt Grelling. He collaborated with Hempel and Grelling on works in philosophy and philosophy of science, particularly concerning Gestalt psychology. Oppenheim is recognized as a co-founder of the Hempel-Oppenheim schema, also known as the deductive-nomological model.