Physics
Rudolf Mössbauer
Physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1961 at the age of 32
Born 1929 · Died 2011
Rudolf Mössbauer discovered an effect that lets atomic nuclei absorb gamma rays without recoil, giving physicists a measuring instrument of extraordinary precision. It was used to confirm a prediction of general relativity in a laboratory.
Key achievements
- Discovered the Mössbauer effect as a doctoral student
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 1961, at the age of 32
- Later led pioneering research on neutrino oscillations
Universities
Munich
Studied here, took his doctorate in 1958, and returned as professor in 1964 after a period at Caltech.
Pasadena, California
Professor of physics from 1961 to 1964, arriving the year he won the Nobel Prize.
Facts
- He made the discovery as a doctoral student, and his supervisor was initially sceptical of the result.
- The Mössbauer effect was used to measure the gravitational redshift of light over a 22-metre tower at Harvard.
- A Mössbauer spectrometer was carried to Mars on NASA's rovers to identify iron-bearing minerals.