Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906 – 1972)

Maria Goeppert, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963, was born on June 28, 1906 in Kattowitz (Upper Silesia, Germany—now a part of Poland). Her father, a professor of Pediatrics followed a call to the University of Göttingen in 1910. Maria would grow up in Göttingen in the vibrant academic atmosphere of the city. Although it was a difficult matter for a woman in those times, she qualified and entered the University in 1924. She developed a keen interest in physics, benefiting from the guidance of Max Born. She earned a doctorate in theoretical physics in 1930.

Shortly before earning the doctorate she had met an American, Joseph Mayer, who was working with the Göttingen physicist, James Franck. Goeppert and Mayer married and she moved with him to Baltimore, where he taught at Johns Hopkins University. Goeppert-Mayer was not able to find employment, but continued to work in physics in cooperation with her husband. Her interests developed gradually in the direction of chemical physics. During the time in Baltimore the couple would have two children, Maria Ann and Peter.

In 1946 the couple moved to Chicago where she was offered an appointment in the Institute for Nuclear Studies and worked in the Argonne National Laboratory. In that capacity she worked closely with Edward Teller and Enrico Fermi. In that context she developed her theory of Nuclear Shell Structure which was published in 1955 in a book, jointly undertaken with J. Hans Daniel Jensen, Elementary Theory of Nuclear Shell Structure. In 1960 Goeppert-Meyer and her husband accepted professorships at the University of California in San Diego. She and Jensen were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in 1963. Goeppert-Meyer was the second woman to win the physics prize after Marie Curie in 1903.

Goeppert-Mayer suffered a heart attack in 1971 and lapsed into a coma. She died on Febrary 20, 1972.

Maria Goeppert-Mayer wurde am 28. Juni 1906 in Kattowitz, Deutschland, geboren. Sie promovierte 1930 von der Universität Göttingen und heiratete den amerikanischen Physiker Joseph E. Mayer. Sie arbeitete 1945 an der Spaltung von Uran-Isotopen für die Atombombe. 1949 formulierte sie ihre Theorie über die nukleare Schalenstruktur, die sie zusammen mit J. Hans Daniel Jensen in dem Buch Elementary Theory of Nuclear Shell Structure (1955) formulierte. Beide herhielten dafür zusammen mit Eugene P. Wigner 1963 den Nobelpreis für Physik. Goeppert-Mayer starb am 20. Februar 1972 in San Diego, Californien.