Born Eugenia Kannegiesser, Eugenia “Genia” Peierls was a Russian physicist and wife of German-born physicist Rudolf Peierls.
Genia and Rudolf met in 1930 at a conference in Odessa. Genia was working with theoretical physicist Lev Landau, whom Rudolf worked with from Berlin. Rudolf traveled to the conference to meet Landau, meeting Genia there as well. After writing letters back and forth for six months, Rudolf traveled to Leningrad in 1931 and married Genia. Over the course of their marriage, Rudolf and Genia had three daughters and one son.
When Rudolf joined the Manhattan Project in 1943, Genia traveled to Los Alamos with him. At Los Alamos the Peierls’ house became a social hub, and many noted Genia’s warmth and welcoming nature.
Genia died in October 1986.