Maria Goeppert Mayer

Maria Goeppert Mayer was a German-born American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 for her work on the nuclear shell model. She was the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics.

Goeppert Mayer was born in Kattowitz, Germany, in 1906. She studied physics at the University of Göttingen, where she was one of only two women in her class. She earned her PhD in 1930 and then moved to the United States to work as a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley.

Goeppert Mayer's research focused on the structure of the atomic nucleus. She developed a model of the nucleus that is called the nuclear shell model. The nuclear shell model is based on the idea that the protons and neutrons in the nucleus are arranged in shells, like electrons in an atom.

The nuclear shell model is an important tool for understanding the structure and behaviour of the atomic nucleus. It has been used to explain a variety of nuclear phenomena, including the binding energy of nuclei and the emission of nuclear radiation.

Maria Goeppert Mayer was a brilliant physicist who made significant contributions to our understanding of the atom.