Photo of Maria Goeppert Mayer

Maria Goeppert Mayer

1906 - 1972
Theoretical Physicist
Germany USA

Personal Information

Born: 1906

Died: 1972

Country of Birth: Germany

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Education

University of Gottingen PhD Teoretical Physics 1930

Professional Life

Field of Study: Theoretical Physicist

Institution/Corporation: Argonne National Laboratory; Columbia University; Sarah Lawrence College; University of Chicago; UC San diego

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degree: Russel Sage College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College: Member: National Academy of Sciences (1956), Akademie der Wissenschaften Heidelberg (1956), American Physical Society (1941), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1965), American Philosophical Society

Awards & Achievements

Awards: 1963, Nobel Prize Physics (with J. Hans D. Jensen & Eugene Wigner; 1965, Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement; Crater Goeppert Mayer on Venus named after her as are awards, a laboratory, a symposium & buildings; 1996, National Women s Hall of Fame; 2011, US Postage Stamp

Achievements: worked on the Manhattan Project; with huband, Joseph, wrote Statistical Mechanics-a graduate level textbook that was the standard for decades

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