Abstract
In 1949 the nuclear shell model was discovered simultaneously in the United States and Germany. Both discoveries were the result of a nuclear scientist looking at geochemical and nuclear data with the eyes of a chemist. Maria Goeppert Mayer in the United States and Hans Suess in Germany both brought a chemist’s perspective to the problem; the theoretical solution was subsequently supplied independently by Mayer and Hans Jensen.
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Karen E. Johnson is Priest Associate Professor at St.Lawrence University, where she teaches physics and history of science. She is currently writing a dual biography of Maria Goeppert Mayer and Joseph E.Mayer.
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Johnson, K.E. From Natural History to the Nuclear Shell Model: Chemical Thinking in the Work of Mayer, Haxel, Jensen, and Suess. Phys. perspect. 6, 295–309 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-003-0203-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-003-0203-x