Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 "for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals." The Nobel Prize in Physics 1914, announced November 11, 1915. Max von Laue, “for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals”. Max von Laue: born 1879, Pfaffendorf, Germany. Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).