Rudolf Mössbauer

Mossbauer twice married in his life. The first marriage was to Elisabeth Pritz with whom he had a daughter Suzi. He later married Christel Braun. She bore him two children, a son Peter and a daughter Regine.

He breathed his last on September 14, 2011, in Grunwald, Germany.

Rudolf Mossbauer was born on January 31, 1929, in Munich to Ludwig and Ernest Mossbauer. He was the only child of the couple. His father was a phototechnician, who printed colour post cards and reproduced photographic materials.

Young Mossbauer completed his early education from Oberschule in Munich-Pasing. He graduated from the same in 1948. Since Germany was reeling from the after effects of World War II, Mossbauer’s plans of attaining higher education seemed difficult to attain.

Following his secondary education, he found work as an optical assistant at the Rodenstock optical firm in Münich. Later, he worked for the U.S. Army of Occupation. Saving money from both the jobs, he subsequently enrolled himself at the Munich Technical University to study physics in 1949.

In 1952, Mossbauer received his preliminary diploma or B.S. degree from the institute, and three years later was awarded his M.S. degree.

Following his degree from Munich Technical University, Mossbauer took up the post of an assistant lecturer at the Institute of Mathematics. Simultaneously, he worked on his thesis at the Laboratory for Applied Physics at Munich Technical University between 1953 and 1954.

From 1955 until 1957, Mossbauer worked on his thesis for the doctorate degree. He carried out a series of investigations at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. It was while working on his thesis at the Max Planck Institute that Mossbauer first observed the phenomenon of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption.

In 1958, he provided the direct experimental evidence of the existence of the Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption. Much unlike normal conditions, atomic nuclei recoil when emitted gamma rays the wavelength of the emission varied with the amount of recoil. However, through his experiment, he found that at low temperature a nucleus could be embedded in a crystal lattice that absorbed its recoil. This discovery made it possible to produce gamma rays at specific wavelengths.

Mossbauer’s discovery of the phenomenon of Recoilless Nuclear Resonance Absorption was epical. It was instrumental in verifying Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and greatly assisted in measuring the magnetic fields of atomic nuclei.

In 1958, Mossbauer received his doctorate degree from the Munich Technical University under Professor Maier-Leibnitz. Following year, he was appointed as the scientific assistant at the Munich Technical University.

Mossbauer’s most important work came in towards the end of the 1950s. While studying at the Munich Technical University, he discovered the recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence. Under normal conditions, atomic nuclei recoil when emitted gamma rays, the wavelength of the emission varied with the amount of recoil. However, Mossbauer discovered that at low temperature a nucleus could be embedded in a crystal lattice that absorbed its recoil. This discovery of the Mössbauer effect made it possible to produce gamma rays at specific wavelengths. The Mossbauer Effect was used to verify Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and later employed for measuring the magnetic fields of atomic nuclei. It also formed the basis of Mossbauer spectroscopy which has been widely used in biological sciences, nuclear physics, inorganic and structural chemistry, solid state studies, and several other related fields.