Mottelson Ben R.
Date of birth:
- 1926
Place of birth:
- Chicago
Deseased:
May 13, 2022 in Copenhagen
Mottelson Ben R.
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1975
Academic titles:
- professor Doctor of Science
Membership in the Academy:
- corresponding member – Department of Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Sciences (11/15/1979 – …)
Curriculum Vitae
Ben R. Mottelson, in full Ben Roy Mottelson, (born July 9, 1926, Chicago, Ill., U.S. – died 13 May 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark), was American-Danish physicist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physics with Aage N. Bohr and James Rainwater for his work in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei and the reasons behind such asymmetries.
Having taken his doctorate in theoretical physics at Harvard University in 1950, Mottelson accepted a fellowship at the Niels Bohr Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen and then joined the faculty of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Nuclear Physics there; he subsequently became a naturalized Danish citizen.
From experiments conducted in collaboration with Bohr in the early 1950s, Mottelson discovered that the motion of subatomic particles can distort the shape of the nucleus, thus challenging the widely accepted theory that all nuclei are perfectly spherical. Subsequently it was discovered that such asymmetries occur in atoms of all elements.
Since 1979 he was a corresponding member of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.