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Rudolf Mössbauer: Nobel Prize Discoveries

Rudolf Mössbauer was born in 1929 in Munich, Germany. He studied physics and worked at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg from 1955-1957. During this time, he carried out the first experimental observation of the phenomenon of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1961 at the age of 32, for his work on Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption and its theoretical interpretation.

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88 views1 page

Rudolf Mössbauer: Nobel Prize Discoveries

Rudolf Mössbauer was born in 1929 in Munich, Germany. He studied physics and worked at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg from 1955-1957. During this time, he carried out the first experimental observation of the phenomenon of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1961 at the age of 32, for his work on Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption and its theoretical interpretation.

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03. Angelina Shafa' Camellia
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RUDOLF MOSSBAUER

Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer was born in Munich on the 31st of January 1929, the son of Ludwig
Mössbauer and his wife Erna, née Ernst. He was educated at the “Oberschule” (non-classical
secondary school) in Munich-Pasing and left after matriculating in I948. After working for one
year in industrial laboratories, he started reading physics at the Technical University (Technische
Hochschule) in Munich in 1949 and passed his intermediate degree examinations in 1952.
During the years 1953 and 1954 he completed his thesis at the Laboratory for Applied Physics at
the Technical University in Munich, at the same time acting as assistant lecturer at its Institute of
Mathematics. From 1955 to 1957 he worked on his thesis for the doctorate and carried out a
series of investigations at the Institute for Physics of the Max Planck Institute for Medical
Research in Heidelberg, in the course of which he carried out the first experimental observation
of the phenomenon of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption. In January 1958 he received
his degree under Professor Maier-Leibnitz at the Technical University in Munich. In 1958, again
at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, he provided the direct experimental evidence of the
existence of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption. For the year 1959 he was appointed
scientific assistant at the Technical University in Munich. He accepted an invitation by the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, U.S.A., in 1960 and there continued his
investigations of gamma absorption, at first as Research Fellow and later as Senior Research
Fellow. He was appointed Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology in 1961.
From the year 1953 onwards his main work was directed towards the study of absorption of
gamma rays in matter, in particular the study of nuclear resonance absorption. This led to the
discovery of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption and its theoretical interpretation. During
the last few years he has been investigating problems of nuclear physics and of solid state
physics by applying already previously established methods.

His work in the field of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption has been rewarded by the
following prizes: Prize of the Research Corporation New York (1960); Röntgen Prize of the
University of Giessen (1961); Elliot Cresson Medal, Franklin Institute (1961).

He is married to Elisabeth, née Pritz, and has a daughter, Susi.


Question:

How could he win The Nobel Prize?


Answer:

He found in 1957 that γ-rays emitted by iridium-191 could be absorbed by a target of the
same isotope without any loss of energy, it was soon obvious that he had discovered a new
basis for spectroscopy. Just four years later, at the age of 32, he was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics.

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