Mathematician and physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer was the second
woman (the first American woman) to win the Nobel
Prize in physics (1963). She
developed the nuclear shell model of atomic nuclei. The prize was shared with J. Hans D. Jensen
and Eugene Wigner.
Goeppert-Mayer was originally from Germany and moved to the U.S.
with her husband, Joseph Mayer, when he received an assistant professorship at
Johns Hopkins University. This was in
1930 and during the Great Depression. Goeppert-Mayer
worked for the fun of doing physics; during those difficult times nobody would
employ a professor's wife.
From 1930-1938 Goeppert-Mayer produced ten papers and a
textbook. She and her husband co-authored
a textbook, Statistical Mechanics.
Eighth-generation professor Goeppert-Mayer began to teach
part-time at Sarah Lawrence College in 1941.
Previously working as a scientific volunteer, she was 53 when she first obtained
a full-time job in her field. She held a
teaching position in the Physics Department of the University of Chicago and
also worked at the Institute for Nuclear Studies.
Goeppert-Mayer worked with Edward Teller at Argonne National
Laboratory to develop the "little bang" theory of cosmic origin. She also worked on the question of why
elements that had 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126 protons or neutrons were
stable. She established mathematically
that nuclear particles spinning on their axes and orbiting within predictable
paths in the nucleus were described as shells.
These numbers would be when the shells were full, thus, more stable than
half-empty shells.
Recognition
- Member Heidelberg Academy of Science (1950)
- Member National Academy of Sciences (1956)
- Nobel Prize in Physics with J.H.D. Jensen "For
their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure." (1963)
- The American Physical Society awards a prize in
her honor, The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award , annually to an
outstanding woman physicist.
Resources:
http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/104-Mayer
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/mayer-bio.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/mayer.html
http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/Phase2/Mayer,_Maria_Goeppert@844444444.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_goeppert_mayer.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Maria_Goeppert-Mayer_%283321963421%29.jpg/435px-Maria_Goeppert-Mayer_%283321963421%29.jpg [image]
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