Traveling with the Paneths

An intimate, colorful record of a family on the move

Alex Q. Arbuckle

1912-1938

Paneth's wife Else on their honeymoon in Cairo. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Eva, Heinz and Else sitting on a wall." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Friedrich Adolf Paneth was born in Austria in 1887, the son of Jewish parents but raised as a Protestant. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Vienna in 1910, but soon switched to study radiochemistry, and began to make a name for himself. From there, he naturally taught himself photography, including the new and complex color process known as Autochrome.In 1913, Paneth married Else Hartmann, and took her on a honeymoon to Cairo. The next year they had a daughter, Eva, and in 1918 a son, Heinz.

Otztal, Austria. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Skiing across ice in Otztal, Austria. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

While Paneth built an academic career and became a respected authority on subjects from hydrides and meteorites to the philosophy of chemistry, he continued to travel around Europe with his family, visiting Scotland, Italy, Austria, France and other locales.In each of these places, he created carefully observed, romantic photographs of his wife, children and their surroundings.With the rise of Nazism in Germany, Paneth chose not to return from a 1933 lecture tour in England. Instead he became a British citizen. He finally returned to Germany in 1953 to direct the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry until his death in 1958.Twenty years later, his daughter Eva donated 2,000 of his photographs to the Royal Photographic Society, including many pictures of their travels as a family.

At the entrance to the Pyramid of Menkare. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

The Temple of Dor el-Medine. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Else at the flooded Trajan's Kiosk. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Karnak, Egypt. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Market stalls outside an Egyptian ruin. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Sphinx and camel." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Else reading by the Nile," Luxor, Egypt. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Snowy mountains." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Highland Castle, Scotland. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Beach scene with flag." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Heinz and Else looking out to sea. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Mountain peaks." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

c. 1920

"Boy in a tree." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

c. 1925

"The family at the lake." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Eva at Mount Spinale." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Heinz and Eva on the hillside." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Children on a rooftop." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

1934

St Vasily's Cathedral, Moscow. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

1925

St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"People watching a yachting race." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Eva and Heinz on the shore of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Stilvie Pass, Italy. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

c. 1925

"Eva doing a handstand." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

c. 1927

"Eva climbing a rock face, Lake Luzern, Switzerland." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

"Heinz on the beach." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

The Paneth family on a boat in Lake Garda, Italy. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Eva poses after a successful hunt in Scotland. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Eva Paneth at Lake Garda, Italy. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Relatives of the Paneths in Scotland. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

c. 1930

Meran, Italy. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

c. 1930

"Children at sunset." Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Quay market, Finland. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images

Heinz, Eva, Dora Hartmann, cousin Peter Paneth, and Else Paneth in Brittany, France. The Kodak film advertised ultimately replaced Lumiere's Autochrome. Credit: Friedrich Paneth/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images