Eugene Paul Wigner
Aug 13, 2019 16:47:19 GMT
Post by Admin on Aug 13, 2019 16:47:19 GMT
Eugene Wigner è stato un ingegnere chimico premio Nobel per la fisica che contribuì in diverse materie scientifiche : fisica, matematica, chimica ed ingegneria nucleare.
Fonte : www.ams.org/notices/199507/wigner.pdf
Eugene Wigner was born Jenö Pál Wigner in
Budapest, Hungary, on November 17, 1902. Since
he was a somewhat sickly child, his parents
arranged for his early education to occur at
home. However, later on he spent four years at
the famous Lutheran gymnasium (high school)
of Budapest, where he had the good fortune to
have as friend and classmate (one class behind
him) Jancsi (=Johann=John) von Neumann.
Wigner was attracted by mathematics and
physics, but, following his father’s wish that he
study something that could be useful in the
leather tannery where his father was a foreman,
Wigner got a degree in chemical engineering
from the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. His
thesis (1925), written under the supervision of
Michael Polanyi, was on the theory of chemical
reactions. Wigner’s acumen so impressed Polanyi
that he recommended him for his first position
as a physicist, assistant to the physicist Richard
Becker.
During the next decade and a half Wigner
continued his study of the theory of chemical reactions
but used the then new quantum mechanics.
He did related work with Victor Weisskopf
on the theory of line breadth in atomic
spectra as well as a study of nuclear reaction
rates with Gregory Breit. However, the main
focus of his effort was in the application of
group theory to the study of the symmetry properties
of stationary states of atoms, molecules,
atomic nuclei, and crystals.
It was also during this period that Wigner
made a transition from Germany to the United
States. From 1930 to 1933 Wigner and von Neumann
had a common arrangement: they spent
one term each year at their jobs in Berlin and one
at Princeton University. In the spring of 1933 the
National Socialists came to power in Germany,
and the Berlin positions of von Neumann and
Wigner vanished. Von Neumann then joined the
faculty of the new Institute for Advanced Study.
Wigner spent three years full-time in Princeton
and then went to Wisconsin for two years. In the
fall of 1938 he was back in Princeton in an endowed
professorship, just in time to hear the
news of the discovery of nuclear fission, a phenomenon
whose consequences dominated the
next decade of his life.
Budapest, Hungary, on November 17, 1902. Since
he was a somewhat sickly child, his parents
arranged for his early education to occur at
home. However, later on he spent four years at
the famous Lutheran gymnasium (high school)
of Budapest, where he had the good fortune to
have as friend and classmate (one class behind
him) Jancsi (=Johann=John) von Neumann.
Wigner was attracted by mathematics and
physics, but, following his father’s wish that he
study something that could be useful in the
leather tannery where his father was a foreman,
Wigner got a degree in chemical engineering
from the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. His
thesis (1925), written under the supervision of
Michael Polanyi, was on the theory of chemical
reactions. Wigner’s acumen so impressed Polanyi
that he recommended him for his first position
as a physicist, assistant to the physicist Richard
Becker.
During the next decade and a half Wigner
continued his study of the theory of chemical reactions
but used the then new quantum mechanics.
He did related work with Victor Weisskopf
on the theory of line breadth in atomic
spectra as well as a study of nuclear reaction
rates with Gregory Breit. However, the main
focus of his effort was in the application of
group theory to the study of the symmetry properties
of stationary states of atoms, molecules,
atomic nuclei, and crystals.
It was also during this period that Wigner
made a transition from Germany to the United
States. From 1930 to 1933 Wigner and von Neumann
had a common arrangement: they spent
one term each year at their jobs in Berlin and one
at Princeton University. In the spring of 1933 the
National Socialists came to power in Germany,
and the Berlin positions of von Neumann and
Wigner vanished. Von Neumann then joined the
faculty of the new Institute for Advanced Study.
Wigner spent three years full-time in Princeton
and then went to Wisconsin for two years. In the
fall of 1938 he was back in Princeton in an endowed
professorship, just in time to hear the
news of the discovery of nuclear fission, a phenomenon
whose consequences dominated the
next decade of his life.
Fonte : www.ams.org/notices/199507/wigner.pdf