Stefan Meyer (27 April 1872 – 29 December 1949) was an Austrian physicist involved in research on radioactivity.
The chemical plant of Auer von Welsbach, which was used to produce rare earth elements, provided the necessary technical equipment and knowledge for separation of small quantities of material from ore. Meyer became interim head of the institute for one year after the suicide of Boltzmann.
[2][3] During the time when Meyer was acting director, a number of prominent scientists worked at the institute, including George de Hevesy, Victor Francis Hess and Friedrich Paneth.
With the Anschluss Österreichs in 1938, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, Meyer as a Jew had to leave office.
He stayed in his house in the countryside of Austria and, because of the intervention of several people, was left unharmed for the rest of the war.
His older brother Hans Leopold Meyer, a professor of chemistry, was less protected and was killed in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942.