Abstract
Mayer, Maria Goeppert, German-American physicist: b. Kattowitz, Germany (now Katowice, Poland), June 28, 1906. One of the outstanding theoretical physicists of her time, she made significant contributions to solid-state theory and statistical mechanics and, most particularly, to the borderline between these disciplines — theory of phase transitions. She won her world fame and a share of the 1963 Nobel Prize in physics, however, by her recognition of a structure in the properties of the nuclei and her explanation of that structure. She explained it in terms of a picture in which the constituents of the nuclei, protons and neutrons, move independently of each other, each following its own orbit.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wigner, E.P. (2001). Biographical Notice of Maria Goeppert Mayer. In: Mehra, J. (eds) Historical and Biographical Reflections and Syntheses. Historical, Philosophical, and Socio-Political Papers, vol B / 7. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07791-7_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07791-7_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08180-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-07791-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive