Klaus Fuchs was born on 29th December, 1911, in Russelsheim, Germany. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Leipzig. A member of the Germany Communist Party, Fuchs was forced to flee the country after the Nazis gained power in 1933.
Fuchs moved to Scotland where he continued he studies. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Fuchs was briefly interned but was released when it was discovered that his knowledge of physics would be useful to the British government. He worked at Birmingham University under Rudolf Peierls, another German refugee physicist in England. In 1943 Fuchs was sent to the United States where he worked at Los Alamos on developing the atom bomb.
After the war Fuchs returned to England where he became head of the physics department of the British nuclear research centre at Harwell.
On 5th September 1945, Igor Gouzenko, a KGB intelligence officer based in Canada, defected to the West claiming he had evidence of an Soviet spy ring based in Britain. Gouzenko provided evidence that led to the arrest of 22 local agents and 15 Soviet spies in Canada. Some of this information from Gouzenko resulted in Fuchs being interviewed by MI5.
Fuchs denied any involvement in espionage and the intelligence services did not have enough evidence to have him arrested and charged with spying. However, after repeated interviews with Jim Skardon he eventually confessed on 23rd January 1950 to passing information to the Soviet Union . Six weeks later Fuchs was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
In 1950 the FBI arrested Harry Gold, who confessed to helping Fuchs in his espionage activities in the United States. As a result of Gold's testimony, other spies, including David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were arrested and convicted.
After his release on 24th June 1959, he went to East Germany where he became deputy director of the Central Institute for Nuclear Research in Rossendorf. Klaus Fuchs died on 28th January, 1988.
