Maria Göppert-Mayer
Encyclopedia
Maria Goeppert-Mayer was a German
-born American theoretical physicist
, and Nobel laureate in Physics
for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus
. She is the second female laureate in physics, after Marie Curie
.
's Prussian
Province of Silesia
. Her family moved to Göttingen
in 1910 when her father Friedrich was appointed Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Göttingen. On her father's side, Goeppert-Mayer was supposedly a seventh-generation professor. From a young age, she was surrounded by the students and lecturers from the university, intellectuals including the future Nobel winners, Enrico Fermi
, Werner Heisenberg
, Paul Dirac
and Wolfgang Pauli
. In 1924, Goeppert passed the abitur
, making her eligible to enter university, and enrolled at Göttingen university in the fall. Among her professors at Göttingen were three future Nobel prize
winners: Max Born
, James Franck
and Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus
. Goeppert completed her Doctor of Philosophy
degree (Ph.D.) at the University of Göttingen in 1930, and in that same year, she married Dr. Joseph Edward Mayer
, an assistant of James Franck. The new couple next moved to the United States, Mayer's home country.
For the next few years, Goeppert-Mayer worked at unofficial or volunteer positions at the university at which her husband was professor—first at the Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1931–39, then Columbia University
in 1940-46, and after that the University of Chicago
. During this time, Goeppert-Mayer was unable to gain a professional appointment at Mayer's universities due in part to both sexism
and strict rules against nepotism
. However, she was able to find other opportunities, including a teaching position at the Sarah Lawrence College
, a research position with Columbia University's Substitute Alloy Materials Project and with the Opacity Project, and she also spent some time at the Los Alamos Laboratory.
During her husband's time at the University of Chicago, Goeppert-Mayer was able to become a voluntary Associate Professor of Physics at the school. In addition, when the nearby Argonne National Laboratory
was founded on July 1, 1946, Goeppert-Mayer was offered a part-time job there as a Senior Physicist in the Theoretical Physics Division. It was during her time at Chicago and Argonne that she developed a mathematical model for the structure of nuclear shells, the work for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1963, shared with J. Hans D. Jensen
and Eugene Paul Wigner.
Goeppert-Mayer's model explained "why certain numbers of nucleons in the nucleus of an atom cause an atom to be extremely stable". This had been baffling scientists for some time. These numbers are called "magic numbers
". She postulated, against the received wisdom of the time, that the nucleus is like a series of closed shells and pairs of neutrons and protons like to couple together in what is called spin orbit coupling. This is like the Earth spinning on its axis as the Earth itself is spinning around the Sun. Goeppert-Mayer described the idea elegantly:
At the same time, there were German scientists working on exactly the same thing. After they had published their results, Goeppert-Mayer sought to collaborate with them. One from the German team, Jensen, worked with her to produce a book in 1950 called Elementary Theory of Nuclear Shell Structure. In 1963, Goeppert-Mayer and Jensen shared the Nobel Prize for Physics "...for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure." She was quoted as saying, "Winning the prize was half as exciting as doing the work."
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Goeppert-Mayer worked out equations in optical opacity
, while working for Edward Teller
- equations that were used for Teller's and others' work in the design of the first hydrogen bomb (detonated on November 1, 1952).
In 1960, Goeppert-Mayer was appointed to a position as a (full) Professor of Physics at the University of California at San Diego. Although she suffered from a stroke shortly after arriving there, she continued to teach and conduct research for a number of years.
by atoms. This was not confirmed experimentally until the development of the laser
in the 1960s. To honor her fundamental contribution to this area, the unit for the two-photon absorption cross section
is named the Goeppert-Mayer (GM) unit.
, in 1972 after a heart attack
that had struck her the previous year had left her coma
tose.
After her death, an award in her name was set up by the American Physical Society
to honor young female physicists at the beginning of their careers. Open to all female physicists who hold Ph.D.s, the winner receives money and the opportunity to give guest lectures about her research at four major institutions. Two of Goeppert-Mayer's former universities also honor her. The University of Chicago
presents an award each year to an outstanding young woman scientist or engineer, and the University of California at San Diego hosts an annual Maria Goeppert-Mayer symposium, bringing together female researchers to discuss current science. Crater Goeppert-Mayer
on Venus
(diameter of about 35 km) is also named after Goeppert-Mayer.
In 2011, a US postage stamp was issued.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
-born American theoretical physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, and Nobel laureate in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus
Atomic nucleus
The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...
. She is the second female laureate in physics, after Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
.
Biography
Maria Goeppert was born in Kattowitz (now Katowice, Poland), within the German EmpireGerman Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
's Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
Province of Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
. Her family moved to Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
in 1910 when her father Friedrich was appointed Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Göttingen. On her father's side, Goeppert-Mayer was supposedly a seventh-generation professor. From a young age, she was surrounded by the students and lecturers from the university, intellectuals including the future Nobel winners, Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
, Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
, Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
and Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after being nominated by Albert Einstein, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his "decisive contribution through his discovery of a new law of Nature, the exclusion principle or...
. In 1924, Goeppert passed the abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
, making her eligible to enter university, and enrolled at Göttingen university in the fall. Among her professors at Göttingen were three future Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners: Max Born
Max Born
Max Born was a German-born physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 30s...
, James Franck
James Franck
James Franck was a German Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Franck was born to Jacob Franck and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. Franck completed his Ph.D...
and Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus
Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus
Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus was a German chemist who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1928 for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins. He was the doctoral advisor of Adolf Butenandt who also won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939.Adolf Windaus was born in Berlin. His interest in...
. Goeppert completed her Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degree (Ph.D.) at the University of Göttingen in 1930, and in that same year, she married Dr. Joseph Edward Mayer
Joseph Edward Mayer
Joseph Edward Mayer was a chemist who discovered the Mayer expansion in statistical field theory....
, an assistant of James Franck. The new couple next moved to the United States, Mayer's home country.
For the next few years, Goeppert-Mayer worked at unofficial or volunteer positions at the university at which her husband was professor—first at the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1931–39, then Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1940-46, and after that the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. During this time, Goeppert-Mayer was unable to gain a professional appointment at Mayer's universities due in part to both sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
and strict rules against nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
. However, she was able to find other opportunities, including a teaching position at the Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
, a research position with Columbia University's Substitute Alloy Materials Project and with the Opacity Project, and she also spent some time at the Los Alamos Laboratory.
During her husband's time at the University of Chicago, Goeppert-Mayer was able to become a voluntary Associate Professor of Physics at the school. In addition, when the nearby Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
was founded on July 1, 1946, Goeppert-Mayer was offered a part-time job there as a Senior Physicist in the Theoretical Physics Division. It was during her time at Chicago and Argonne that she developed a mathematical model for the structure of nuclear shells, the work for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 1963, shared with J. Hans D. Jensen
J. Hans D. Jensen
Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen was a German nuclear physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranium Club, in which he made contributions to the separation of uranium isotopes. After the war Jensen was a professor at the University of Heidelberg...
and Eugene Paul Wigner.
Goeppert-Mayer's model explained "why certain numbers of nucleons in the nucleus of an atom cause an atom to be extremely stable". This had been baffling scientists for some time. These numbers are called "magic numbers
Magic number (physics)
In nuclear physics, a magic number is a number of nucleons such that they are arranged into complete shells within the atomic nucleus...
". She postulated, against the received wisdom of the time, that the nucleus is like a series of closed shells and pairs of neutrons and protons like to couple together in what is called spin orbit coupling. This is like the Earth spinning on its axis as the Earth itself is spinning around the Sun. Goeppert-Mayer described the idea elegantly:
- "Think of a room full of waltzers. Suppose they go round the room in circles, each circle enclosed within another. Then imagine that in each circle, you can fit twice as many dancers by having one pair go anti-clockwise and another pair go counterclockwise. Then add one more variation; all the dancers are spinning twirling round and round like tops as they circle the room, each pair both twirling and circling. But only some of those that go counterclockwise are twirling counterclockwise. The others are twirling clockwise while circling counterclockwise. The same is true of those that are dancing around clockwise: some twirl clockwise, others twirl counterclockwise."
At the same time, there were German scientists working on exactly the same thing. After they had published their results, Goeppert-Mayer sought to collaborate with them. One from the German team, Jensen, worked with her to produce a book in 1950 called Elementary Theory of Nuclear Shell Structure. In 1963, Goeppert-Mayer and Jensen shared the Nobel Prize for Physics "...for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure." She was quoted as saying, "Winning the prize was half as exciting as doing the work."
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Goeppert-Mayer worked out equations in optical opacity
Opacity (optics)
Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...
, while working for Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
- equations that were used for Teller's and others' work in the design of the first hydrogen bomb (detonated on November 1, 1952).
In 1960, Goeppert-Mayer was appointed to a position as a (full) Professor of Physics at the University of California at San Diego. Although she suffered from a stroke shortly after arriving there, she continued to teach and conduct research for a number of years.
Other notable work
In her doctoral thesis in 1931, Goeppert-Mayer worked out the theory of possible two-photon absorptionTwo-photon absorption
Two-photon absorption is the simultaneous absorption of two photons of identical or different frequencies in order to excite a molecule from one state to a higher energy electronic state. The energy difference between the involved lower and upper states of the molecule is equal to the sum of the...
by atoms. This was not confirmed experimentally until the development of the laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
in the 1960s. To honor her fundamental contribution to this area, the unit for the two-photon absorption cross section
Absorption cross section
Absorption cross section is a measure for the probability of an absorption process. More generally, the term cross section is used in physics to quantify the probability of a certain particle-particle interaction, e.g., scattering, electromagnetic absorption, etc...
is named the Goeppert-Mayer (GM) unit.
Death and legacy
Goeppert-Mayer died in San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, in 1972 after a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
that had struck her the previous year had left her coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
tose.
After her death, an award in her name was set up by the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
to honor young female physicists at the beginning of their careers. Open to all female physicists who hold Ph.D.s, the winner receives money and the opportunity to give guest lectures about her research at four major institutions. Two of Goeppert-Mayer's former universities also honor her. The University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
presents an award each year to an outstanding young woman scientist or engineer, and the University of California at San Diego hosts an annual Maria Goeppert-Mayer symposium, bringing together female researchers to discuss current science. Crater Goeppert-Mayer
Goeppert-Mayer (crater)
Goeppert-Mayer is a crater on the planet Venus. It is in diameter and lies above an escarpment at the edge of a ridge belt in Southern Ishtar Terra. West of the crater the scarp has more than one kilometer of relief....
on Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
(diameter of about 35 km) is also named after Goeppert-Mayer.
In 2011, a US postage stamp was issued.
External links
- Annotated Bibliography for Maria Goeppert-Mayer from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
- Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical InformationOffice of Scientific and Technical InformationThe Office of Scientific and Technical Information is a component of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy...
, United States Department of EnergyUnited States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material... - Maria Goeppert-Mayer
- discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure.