Robert Hofstadter

Robert Hofstadter
Robert Hofstadter.jpg
Robert Hofstadter (1961, Nobel Foundation photo)
Born (1915-02-05)February 5, 1915
New York City, New York
Died November 17, 1990(1990-11-17) (aged 75)
Stanford, California
Nationality United States
Fields Physics
Institutions Stanford University
University of Pennsylvania
Alma mater City College of New York
Princeton University
Known for Electron scattering
Atomic nuclei
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physics (1961)
Spouse Nancy (Givan) Hofstadter (3 children)
Signature

Robert Hofstadter (February 5, 1915 – November 17, 1990) was an American physicist. He was the joint winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics (together with Rudolf Mössbauer) "for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his consequent discoveries concerning the structure of nucleons."[1][2]

Biography

Hofstadter was born in New York City on Feb. 5, 1915, to Louis Hofstadter, a salesman, and the former Henrietta Koenigsberg. He attended elementary and high schools in New York City and entered City College of New York, graduating with a B.S. degree magna cum laude in 1935 at the age of 20, and was awarded the Kenyon Prize in Mathematics and Physics. He also received a Charles A. Coffin Foundation Fellowship from the General Electric Company, which enabled him to attend graduate school at Princeton University, where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1938. He did his post-doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania before joining Stanford University. Hofstadter taught at Stanford University from 1950 to 1985.

In 1942 he married Nancy Givan (1920-2007), a native of Baltimore.[3] They had three children: Laura, Molly - who was disabled and not able to communicate,[4] and Pulitzer Prize-winner Douglas Hofstadter.[5]

Robert Hofstadter's Erdős number is 5.[6]

The character Leonard Hofstadter, featured in the CBS television comedy The Big Bang Theory, is named after Robert Hofstadter.

↑Jump back a section

Opus

Coining of the fermi (unit) and 1961 Nobel Lecture

Robert Hofstadter coined the term fermi (unit), symbol fm,[7][8][9] in honor of the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), one of the founders of nuclear physics, in Hofstadter's 1956 paper published in the Reviews of Modern Physics journal, "Electron Scattering and Nuclear Structure".[10] The term is widely used by nuclear and particle physicists. When Hofstadter was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics, it subsequently appears in the text of his 1961 Nobel Lecture, "The electron-scattering method and its application to the structure of nuclei and nucleons" (December 11, 1961).[11]

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and EGRET Telescope

In his last few years, Hofstadter became interested in astrophysics and applied his knowledge of scintillators to the design of the EGRET gamma-ray telescope of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory named for fellow Nobel Laureate in Physics (1927), Arthur Holly Compton. Stanford University's Department of Physics credits Hofstadter with being "one of the principal scientists who developed the Compton Observatory."[12]

↑Jump back a section

Awards and Honors

↑Jump back a section

See also

↑Jump back a section

References

  1. ^ R. W. McAllister & Robert Hofstadter, "Elastic Scattering of 188 MeV Electrons from Proton and the Alpha Particle," Physical Review, V102, p. 851 (1956).
  2. ^ Robert Hofstadter, "The Electron Scattering Method & its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons," Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942-1962, pp. 560-581, Elsevier Pub. Co., Amsterdam-London-New York (Dec 1961).
  3. ^ 2007 obituary to Nancy Givan from Stanford university.
  4. ^ Doug Hofstadter's dedication to 'I am a strange loop'.
  5. ^ National Academy of Sciences biography
  6. ^ Some Famous People with Finite Erdös Numbers
  7. ^ http://metricsystemconversion.info/fermi-to-femtometer-fm.html?func=detail
  8. ^ http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictF.html
  9. ^ http://www.hep.phys.soton.ac.uk/hepwww/staff/D.Ross/phys3002/diffraction.pdf
  10. ^ Hofstadter, Robert, Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, "Electron Scattering and Nuclear Structure," Rev. Mod. Phys. 28, 214–254 (1956) © 1956 The American Physical Society
  11. ^ Hofstadter, Robert, "The electron-scattering method and its application to the structure of nuclei and nucleons," Nobel Lecture (December 11, 1961)
  12. ^ http://www.stanford.edu/dept/physics/events/hofstadter2004.html
  13. ^ R. W. McAllister & Robert Hofstadter, "Elastic Scattering of 188 MeV Electrons from Proton and the Alpha Particle," Physical Review, V102, p. 851 (1956).
  14. ^ Robert Hofstadter, "The Electron Scattering Method & its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons," Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942-1962, pp. 560-581, Elsevier Pub. Co., Amsterdam-London-New York (Dec 1961).
↑Jump back a section

Further reading

↑Jump back a section

External links

Nobel Laureates in Physics (1951–1975)
Authority control
↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 17 May 2013, at 15:01