The Nobel Prize in Physics 1975
Aage N. Bohr, Ben R. Mottelson, James Rainwater
I was born in Chicago, Illinois,
on July 9, 1926, the second of three children of Goodman
Mottelson and Georgia Mottelson (née Blum). My father held a
university degree in engineering. My childhood home was a place
where scientific, political and moral issues were freely and
vigorously discussed. I attended primary school and high school
in the village of La Grange, Illinois.
Graduating from high school during the second world war, I was
sent by the U.S. Navy to Purdue University for officers training (V12
program) and remained there to receive a Bachelor of Science
degree in 1947. My graduate studies were at Harvard University
and my PhD work on a problem in nuclar physics was directed by
Professor Julian Schwinger and completed in 1950.
Receiving a Sheldon Traveling Fellowship from Harvard University
I chose to spend the year (1950-51) at the Institute for Theoretical
Physics in Copenhagen (later the Niels Bohr Institute) where
so much of modern physics had been created and where there were
such special traditions for international cooperation. A
fellowship from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission permitted me to
continue my work in Copenhagen for two more years after which I
held a research position in the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear
Research) theoretical study group that was formed in Copenhagen.
With the founding of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics in
Copenhagen (1957) I received a position as professor which I
have held since. The spring term of 1959 was spent as visiting
professor in the University of California at Berkeley.
The close scientific collaboration with Aage
Bohr was begun in
1951 and has continued ever since. We feel that in this
cooperation we have been able to exploit possibilities that lie
in a dialogue between kindred spirits that have been attuned
through a long period of common experience and jointly developed
understanding. The lectures that are published in this volume
attempt a discussion of the main influences that we have built on
and the viewpoints that have been developed in this
collaboration. It has been our good fortune to work closely
together with colleagues at the Niels Bohr Institute and Nordita, including
the many outstanding scientists who have come from all parts of
the world and have so enriched the scientific atmosphere and
personal contacts.
Married Nancy Jane Reno, 1948 (dec. 1975); 3 children, Malcolm Graham (1950),
Daniel John (1953), Martha (1954). Married Britta Marger Siegumfeldt, 1983.*
From Les Prix Nobel en 1975, Editor Wilhelm Odelberg, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1976
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate.
* Updated by the Laureate in February 2005.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1975
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