Dr. Maria Goeppert Mayer....

Dr. Maria Goeppert Mayer, Nobel Laureate

Topics: Diversity, Nobel Prize, Nuclear Physics, Women in Science

Born: 28 June 1906, Kattowitz (now Katowice), Germany (now Poland)

Died: 20 February 1972, San Diego, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure"

Maria Goeppert Mayer was born on June 28, 1906, in Kattowitz, Upper Silesia, then Germany, the only child of Friedrich Goeppert and his wife Maria, nee Wolff. On her father's side, she is the seventh straight generation of university professors.

She went to private and public schools in Göttingen and had the great fortune to have very good teachers. It somehow was never discussed, but taken for granted by her parents as well as by herself that she would go to the University. Yet, at that time it was not trivially easy for a woman to do so. In Göttingen there was only a privately endowed school which prepared girls for the "abitur", the entrance examination for the university. This school closed its doors during the inflation, but the teachers continued to give instructions to the pupils. Maria Goeppert finally took the abitur examination in Hannover, in 1924, being examined by teachers she had never seen in her life.

Maria Goeppert Mayer - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 3 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/mayer-facts.html

Maria Goeppert Mayer Award

To recognize and enhance outstanding achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career, and to provide opportunities for her to present these achievements to others through public lectures in the spirit of Maria Goeppert Mayer. The award consists of $2,500 plus a $4,000 travel allowance to provide opportunities for the recipient to give lectures in her field of physics at four institutions and at the meeting of the Society at which the award is bestowed and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. The award will be presented annually.

American Physical Society: Maria Goeppert Mayer Award