Herbert Kroemer was born on August 25, 1928 in Weimar, Germany, the eldest of three brothers. His father was a civil servant and his mother looked after the house. Although neither of his parents completed high school, they emphasized their children's education. (When Dr. Kroemer eventually decided to study physics, he recalled, his father asked him what it was and whether he could make a living doing it.)
Young Herbert showed an immediate aptitude for mathematics and physics, but was also bored and destructive. In his math class, he got into trouble by teaching other students methods they didn't understand, so the teacher made a deal with him: if he didn't disrupt the class, he would be guaranteed not to turn in any assignments. Top rated. He stuck to the deal.
After high school, he entered the University of Jena, about 15 miles southeast of Weimar. At the time, the entire East German region was under Soviet jurisdiction, and Dr. Kromer, like many students and professors, suffered from limited government. After just a year, he decided to leave.
This was during the 1948 Blockade of Berlin, when Allied forces were transporting supplies to West Berlin after the Soviets had cut off rail, road and canal access. Dr Cromer, who worked at technology company Siemens during the summer, waited in line at the airport for two days before flying out on a British plane.
Before leaving, he sent letters to several universities requesting admission. He eventually took up a position at the University of Göttingen, where he was mentored by Fritz Sauter, who specialized in solid-state physics. After Dr. Kroemer gave a conference on new ideas related to transistors, Dr. Sauter suggested that he submit his thesis to a master's program in theoretical physics. A year later, in 1952, Dr. Kroemer earned his Ph.D.