Maria Goeppert Mayer
The second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics
- Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906–1972)
Maria Goeppert-Mayer was a German-born physicist who became only the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. After earning her PhD in 1930 for her pioneering work on two-photon absorption, she moved to the United States, where she often struggled to find paid scientific work.
During World War II, she joined the Manhattan Project (1942–45), the U.S. research effort that produced the first atomic bombs, though she struggled with the conflict of working against her homeland. Later, she made her greatest contribution: explaining why certain atomic nuclei are especially stable, a discovery known as the nuclear shell model. For this achievement, she received the Nobel Prize in 1963.
Lear more about
The scientist
- Wikipedia
- Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (DE)
- Das Göttinger Nobelpreiswunder (DE)
- The Last Woman to Win a Physics Nobel | Scientific American
- Biographical – nobelprize.org
The science
- Description of two photon absorption: RP Photonics Encyclopedia
- Introduction to the liquid drop model: Aghorekamini Prakashchandra Mahavidyalaya
The illustration
Drawn by Nuriya Nurgalieva: Website
