View source for Maria Goeppert Mayer

{{Short description|German–American theoretical physicist (1906–1972)}}
{{Redirect|Maria Mayer|German transsexual factory worker|Maria Einsmann}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Maria Goeppert-Mayer
| image             = Maria Goeppert-Mayer.jpg
| caption           = Goeppert Mayer in 1963
| birth_name        = Maria Göppert
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1906|06|28|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Kattowitz]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1972|02|20|1906|06|28|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[San Diego]], [[California]], US
| resting_place     = [[El Camino Memorial Park]], San Diego
| alma_mater        = [[University of Göttingen]] ([[Dr. phil.]])
| known_for         = {{Plain list|
* [[Nuclear shell model]]
* [[Double beta decay]]
* [[Two-photon absorption]]
}}
| spouse            = {{Marriage|[[Joseph Edward Mayer]]|1930}}
| children          = 2
| father            = [[Friedrich Göppert]]
| relatives         = [[Donat Wentzel]] (son-in-law)
| awards            = [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1963)
| fields            = {{Plain list|
* [[Atomic physics]]
* [[Nuclear physics]]
}}
| work_institutions = {{Plain list|
* [[Johns Hopkins University]] (1930–1941)
* [[Sarah Lawrence College]] (1941–1945)
* [[Los Alamos Laboratory]] (1945–1946)
* [[University of Chicago]] (1946–1960)
* [[Argonne National Laboratory]] (1946–1960)
* [[University of California, San Diego]] (1960–1972)
}}
| thesis_title      = Über Elementarakte mit zwei Quantensprüngen
| thesis_url        = https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1931AnP...401..273G/abstract
| thesis_year       = 1931
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Max Born]]
| notable_students  = {{Plain list|
* [[Boris Jacobsohn]]<ref name=PhysicsTree>{{Cite web|title=Maria Goeppert-Mayer - Physics Tree|url=https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=143693|website=academictree.org|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref>
* [[Harris Mayer]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
* [[Robert Sachs]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
}}
| signature         = Maria Goeppert-Mayer signature.JPG
}}

'''Maria Goeppert Mayer''' ({{IPA|de|maˈʁiːa ˈɡœpɐt ˈmaɪɐ|lang|De-Maria Goeppert-Mayer.ogg}}; {{Nee|'''Göppert'''}}; June 28, 1906 – February 20, 1972) was a German–American [[theoretical physicist]] who shared the 1963 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[J. Hans D. Jensen]] and [[Eugene Wigner]]. One half of the prize was awarded jointly to Goeppert Mayer and Jensen "for their discoveries concerning [[Nuclear shell model|nuclear shell structure]]". She was the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, the first being [[Marie Curie]] in 1903. In 1986, the [[Maria Goeppert Mayer Award]] for early-career women physicists was established in her honor.

A graduate of the [[University of Göttingen]], Goeppert Mayer wrote her doctoral thesis on the theory of possible [[two-photon absorption]] by atoms. At the time, the chances of experimentally verifying her thesis seemed remote, but the development of the [[laser]] in the 1960s later permitted this. Today, the unit for the two-photon [[absorption cross section]] is called the Goeppert Mayer (GM) unit.

Maria Goeppert married American chemist [[Joseph Edward Mayer]] and moved to the United States, where he was an associate professor at [[Johns Hopkins University]]. Strict rules against [[nepotism]] prevented Johns Hopkins University from taking her on as a faculty member, but she was given a job as an assistant and published a landmark paper on [[double beta decay]] in 1935. In 1937, she moved to [[Columbia University]], where she took an unpaid position. During [[World War II]], she worked for the [[Manhattan Project]] at Columbia on [[isotope separation]], and with [[Edward Teller]] at the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]] on the development of [[thermonuclear weapon]]s.

After the war, Goeppert Mayer became a voluntary Associate Professor of Physics at the [[University of Chicago]] (where her husband and Teller worked) and a senior physicist at the university-run [[Argonne National Laboratory]]. She developed [[Nuclear shell model|a mathematical model]] for the structure of nuclear shells, for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963. In 1960, she was appointed Full Professor of Physics at the [[University of California, San Diego]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize {{!}} Women who changed science {{!}} Maria Goeppert Mayer |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/maria-goeppert-mayer |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=www.nobelprize.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Landau |first=Elizabeth |title=The Last Woman to Win a Physics Nobel |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-last-woman-to-win-a-physics-nobel1/ |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Maria Göppert was born on June 28, 1906, in Kattowitz (now [[Katowice]], Poland), then located in the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], the only child of paediatrician [[Friedrich Göppert]] and Maria Wolff.{{sfn|Ferry|2003|p=18}} In 1910, she moved with her family to [[Göttingen]], where her father,{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=311}} a sixth-generation university professor,{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=236}} was appointed Professor of Pediatrics at the [[University of Göttingen]].{{sfn|Ferry|2003|p=18}} She was closer to her father than to her mother; "Well, my father was more interesting", she later explained; "He was after all a scientist".{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=312}}

Göppert was educated at the ''Höhere Technische'' in Göttingen, a school for middle-class girls who aspired to higher education.{{sfn|Ferry|2003|p=23}} In 1921, she entered the ''Frauenstudium'', a private high school run by [[suffragettes]] that aimed to prepare girls for university. She took the ''[[abitur]]'', the university entrance examination, at age 17, a year early, with three or four girls from her school and thirty boys. All the girls passed, but only one of the boys did.{{sfn|Dash|1973|pp=233–234}}

In the spring of 1924, Göppert entered the University of Göttingen, where she studied mathematics.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=313}} She spent one year at the [[University of Cambridge]] in England, before returning to Göttingen. A purported shortage of women mathematics teachers for schools for girls led to an upsurge of women studying mathematics at a time of high unemployment, and there was even a female professor of mathematics at Göttingen, [[Emmy Noether]], but most were only interested in qualifying for their teaching certificates.{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=250}}

Göppert became interested in physics, and chose to pursue a [[Ph.D.]] instead. In her 1931 thesis,<ref name=Goeppert-Mayer_1931>{{cite journal | author =Goeppert-Mayer M | title = Über Elementarakte mit zwei Quantensprüngen | journal = Annals of Physics | year = 1931 | volume = 9 | issue =3| pages = 273–295 | bibcode=1931AnP...401..273G | doi = 10.1002/andp.19314010303 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Göppert-Mayer|first=M.|date=August 11, 2009|title=Elementary processes with two quantum transitions|journal=Annalen der Physik|language=en|volume=18|issue=7–8|pages=466–479|doi=10.1002/andp.200910358|bibcode=2009AnP...521..466G|s2cid=55669501 }}</ref> she worked out the theory of possible [[two-photon absorption]] by atoms.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=313}} [[Eugene Wigner]] later described the thesis as "a masterpiece of clarity and concreteness".{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=314}} At the time, the chances of experimentally verifying her thesis seemed remote, but the development of the [[laser]] permitted the first experimental verification in 1961, when two-photon-excited [[fluorescence]] was detected in a [[europium]]-doped crystal.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=W. |last1=Kaiser |first2=C.G.B. |last2=Garrett |title=Two-photon excitation in CaF<sub>2</sub>:Eu<sup>2+</sup> |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=229–232 |year=1961 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.7.229|bibcode = 1961PhRvL...7..229K }}</ref> To honor her fundamental contribution to this area, the unit for the two-photon [[absorption cross-section]] is named the "GM". One GM is 10<sup>−50</sup> cm<sup>4</sup> s photon<sup>−1</sup>.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA473083 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914064449/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA473083 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 14, 2013 |title=Two-Photon Absorption Measurements: Establishing Reference Standards. |date=June 8, 2007 |access-date=September 14, 2013 |publisher=[[Australian National University]] }}</ref> Her examiners were three Nobel Prize winners: [[Max Born]], [[James Franck]], and [[Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus]] (in 1954, 1925, and 1928, respectively).{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=264}}

== United States ==
On January 19, 1930, Göppert married [[Joseph Edward Mayer]], an American [[Rockefeller Foundation|Rockefeller fellow]] who was one of James Franck's assistants.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=311–312}}<ref>{{cite web | title=Maria Goeppert-Mayer | url=http://www.epigenesys.eu/en/science-and-you/women-in-science/811-maria-goeppert-mayer | publisher=EpiGeneSys | access-date=September 22, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117181423/http://www.epigenesys.eu/en/science-and-you/women-in-science/811-maria-goeppert-mayer | archive-date=January 17, 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The two had met when Mayer had boarded with the Göppert family.{{sfn|Dash|1973|pp=258–259}} The couple moved to Mayer's home country of the United States, where he had been offered a position as Associate Professor of Chemistry at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in Maryland.{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=265}} They had two children; Maria Ann, who later married [[Donat Wentzel]], and Peter Conrad.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=311–312}}

Strict rules against [[nepotism]] prevented Johns Hopkins University from hiring Goeppert-Mayer as a faculty member.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Wigner, Eugene P.|author-link=Eugene Wigner|title=Maria Goeppert Mayer|journal=Physics Today|date=May 1972|volume=25|issue=5|pages=77–79|doi=10.1063/1.3070875|bibcode = 1972PhT....25e..77W |doi-access=free}}</ref> These rules, created at many universities to prevent patronage, had by this time lost their original purpose and were primarily used to prevent the employment of women married to faculty members.{{sfn|Simon|Clark|Tifft|1966|p=344}} She was given a job as an assistant in the physics department working with German correspondence, for which she received a very small salary, a place to work and access to the facilities. She taught some courses,{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=311–312}}{{sfn|Ferry|2003|pp=40–45}} and published an important <!--landmark--> paper on [[double beta decay]] in 1935.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=315}}

{{Quote box
|align=right
|width=35%
|quote=Some [schools] even condescended to give her work, though they refused to pay her, and the topics were typically 'feminine', such as figuring out what causes colors … the University of Chicago finally took her seriously enough to make her a professor of physics. Although she got her own office, the department still didn't pay her … When the Swedish academy announced in 1963 that she had won her profession's highest honor, the San Diego newspaper greeted her big day with the headline "S.D. Mother Wins Nobel Prize".{{sfn|Kean|2010|pp=27–28, 31}}<ref name="sandiegouniontribune2018">{{cite news |url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/sd-woman-win-nobel-prize-physics-20181002-htmlstory.html |first=Abby |last=Hamblin |title=Last woman to win Nobel Prize in physics referred to as 'San Diego mother' in news coverage |newspaper=San Diego Tribune |date=October 2, 2018 |access-date=October 16, 2018}}</ref> }}

There was little interest in [[quantum mechanics]] at Johns Hopkins, but Goeppert-Mayer worked with [[Karl Herzfeld]] in this area. They collaborated on a number of papers, including a paper with Herzfeld's student A. L. Sklar on the spectrum of [[benzene]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/research-profile/laureate-goeppert-mayer#page=all|title=Research Profile – Maria Goeppert Mayer|work=Lindau Nobel Mediatheque |date=June 10, 2015 |publisher=Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings|access-date=August 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Goeppert-Mayer|first1=M.|last2=Sklar|first2=A.L.|date=1938|title=Calculations of the Lower Excited Levels of Benzene|journal=The Journal of Chemical Physics|language=en|volume=6|issue=10|pages=645–652|doi=10.1063/1.1750138|issn=0021-9606|bibcode=1938JChPh...6..645G}}</ref> She also returned to Göttingen in the summers of 1931, 1932 and 1933 to work with her former examiner Born, writing an article with him for the ''Handbuch der Physik''. This ended when the [[NSDAP|Nazi Party]] came to power in 1933, and many academics, including Born and Franck, lost their jobs. Concerned by the [[Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service|1933 anti-Jewish laws]] that ousted professors of Jewish descent, Goeppert-Mayer as well as Herzfeld became involved in refugee relief efforts.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=311–312}}{{sfn|Ferry|2003|pp=40–45}}

Joe Mayer was fired in 1937. He attributed this to the hatred of women on the part of the dean of physical sciences, which he thought was provoked by Goeppert-Mayer's presence in the laboratory.{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=283}} Herzfeld agreed and added that, with Goeppert-Mayer, Franck and Herzfeld all at Johns Hopkins, some thought that there were too many German scientists there. There were also complaints from some students that Mayer's chemistry lectures contained too much modern physics.{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=284}} Mayer took up a position at [[Columbia University]], where the chairman of the physics department, [[George B. Pegram]], arranged for her to have an office, but she received no salary. She soon made good friends with [[Harold Urey]] and [[Enrico Fermi]], who arrived at Columbia in 1939,{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=317}} with the three of them and their families living in nearby [[Leonia, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries | author-first=Sharon Bertsch | author-last=McGrayne | publisher=Joseph Henry Press | edition=Second | location=Washington, DC | year=1998 | pages=190–193}} Excerpt can also be seen as [https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/item_6-sr-2345_via_siena.pdf this attachment to a Report to the Historical Resources Board] of the City of San Diego, August 18, 2016.</ref> Fermi asked her to investigate the [[valence shell]] of the undiscovered [[transuranic elements]]. Using the [[Thomas–Fermi model]], she predicted that they would form a new series similar to the [[rare earth elements]]. This proved to be correct.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=317}} In 1941, she was elected a Fellow of the [[American Physical Society]].<ref>{{cite web|title=APS Fellow Archive|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1941&unit_id=&institution=Columbia+University}}</ref>

=== Manhattan Project ===
[[File:HD.3A.050 (10481713035).jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Goeppert Mayer]]

In December 1941, Goeppert-Mayer took up her first paid professional position, teaching science part-time at [[Sarah Lawrence College]] in New York. In the spring of 1942, with the United States embroiled in [[World War II]], she joined the [[Manhattan Project]]. She accepted a part-time research post from Urey with [[Columbia University]]'s Substitute Alloy Materials (SAM) Laboratories. The objective of this project was to find a means of separating the [[fissile]] [[uranium-235]] isotope in natural uranium; she researched the chemical and thermodynamic properties of [[uranium hexafluoride]] and investigated the possibility of separating isotopes by photochemical reactions. This method proved impractical at the time, but the development of lasers would later open the possibility of [[separation of isotopes by laser excitation]].{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=318}}

Through her friend [[Edward Teller]], Goeppert Mayer was given a position at Columbia with the Opacity Project, which researched the  properties of matter and radiation at extremely high temperatures with an eye to the development of the [[Teller's "Super" bomb]], the wartime program for the development of [[thermonuclear weapon]]s.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=318}} In February 1945, Joe was sent to the [[Pacific War]], and she decided to leave her children in New York and join Teller's group at the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]]. Joe came back from the Pacific earlier than expected, and they returned to New York together in July 1945.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=318}}{{sfn|Dash|1973|pp=296–299}}

In February 1946, Joe became a professor in the chemistry department and the new [[Institute for Nuclear Studies]] at the [[University of Chicago]], and Goeppert-Mayer was able to become a voluntary associate professor of physics at the school. When Teller also accepted a position there, she was able to continue her Opacity work with him. When the nearby [[Argonne National Laboratory]] was founded on July 1, 1946, she was also offered a part-time job there as a senior physicist in the theoretical physics division. She responded, "I don't know anything about nuclear physics."{{sfn|Schiebinger|1999|p=59}}  She programmed the [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]]'s [[ENIAC]] to solve criticality problems for a [[liquid metal cooled reactor]] using the [[Monte Carlo method]].{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=319–320}} While in Chicago, Mayer derived the [[Bigeleisen-Mayer equation]] with [[Jacob Bigeleisen]].<ref>{{cite journal |title = Calculation of Equilibrium Constants for Isotopic Exchange Reactions |last1 = Bigeleisen |first1 = J. |author-link=Jacob Bigeleisen |last2 = Mayer |first2 = M. G. |journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics |volume = 15 |issue = 5 |year = 1947 |pages = 261–267 |doi = 10.1063/1.1746492 |bibcode = 1947JChPh..15..261B|hdl = 2027/mdp.39015074123996 |hdl-access = free }}</ref>

== Nuclear shell model ==
[[File:Maria Goeppert-Mayer (3321963421).jpg|right|thumb|Maria Goeppert-Mayer walking into the Nobel ceremony with King [[Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden]] in 1963 ]]

During her time at Chicago and Argonne in the late 1940s, Goeppert-Mayer developed a mathematical model for the [[Nuclear shell model|structure of nuclear shells]], which she published in 1950.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=16–21 |date=April 1950 |last=Goeppert-Mayer |first=Maria |title=Nuclear configurations in the spin-orbit coupling model. I. Empirical Evidence |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.78.16 |bibcode = 1950PhRv...78...16M }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=22–23 |date=April 1950 |last=Goeppert-Mayer |first=Maria |title=Nuclear Configurations in the Spin-Orbit Coupling Model. II. Theoretical Considerations |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.78.22|bibcode = 1950PhRv...78...22M }}</ref> Her model explained why certain numbers of [[nucleon]]s in an [[atomic nucleus]] result in particularly stable configurations. These numbers are what Eugene Wigner called ''[[magic number (physics)|magic numbers]]'': 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126. In an account relayed by Joe Mayer, she attained a critical insight while speaking with Enrico Fermi. {{quote|Fermi and Maria were talking in her office when Enrico was called out of the office to answer the telephone on a long distance call. At the door he turned and asked his question about spin-orbit coupling. He returned less than ten minutes later
and Maria started to 'snow' him with the detailed explanation. You may remember that Maria, when excited, had a rapid fire oral delivery, whereas Enrico always wanted a slow detailed and methodical explanation. Enrico smiled and left: 'Tomorrow, when you are less excited, you can explain it to me.'{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=322}}}} 
She had realised that the nucleus is a series of closed shells and pairs of neutrons and protons tend to couple together.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=320-321}} She described the idea as follows:
{{quote|Think of a room full of waltzers. Suppose they go round the room in circles, each circle enclosed within another. Then imagine that in each circle, you can fit twice as many dancers by having one pair go clockwise and another pair go counterclockwise. Then add one more variation; all the dancers are spinning twirling round and round like tops as they circle the room, each pair both twirling and circling. But only some of those that go counterclockwise are twirling counterclockwise. The others are twirling clockwise while circling counterclockwise. The same is true of those that are dancing around clockwise: some twirl clockwise, others twirl counterclockwise.{{sfn|Dash|1973|p=316}}}}

German scientists [[Otto Haxel]], [[J. Hans D. Jensen]], and [[Hans Suess]] were also working on solving the same problem, and arrived at the same conclusion independently. While their results were announced in an issue of the [[Physical Review]] before Goeppert-Mayer in June 1949, her work was received for review in February 1949, while the work of the German authors was received later in April 1949.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=75 |issue=11  |pages=1766 |date=June 1949|last1=Haxel |first1=Otto |author-link=Otto Haxel |last2=Jensen |first2=J. Hans D. |author-link2=J. Hans D. Jensen |last3=Suess |first3=Hans |author-link3=Hans Suess |title=On the "Magic Numbers" in Nuclear Structure |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.75.1766.2 |bibcode = 1949PhRv...75R1766H}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=75 |issue=12 |pages=1969–1970 |date=June 1949 |last=Goeppert-Mayer |first=Maria |title=On Closed Shells in Nuclei. II |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.75.1969|bibcode = 1949PhRv...75.1969M }}</ref> Afterwards, she collaborated with them. Jensen co-authored a book with her in 1950 titled ''Elementary Theory of Nuclear Shell Structure''.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|p=323}} She was elected to the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maria Goeppert Mayer |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20000765.html |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> In 1963, Goeppert-Mayer and Jensen shared one half of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure".<ref>{{cite web |title=Maria Goeppert Mayer – facts |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/mayer-facts.html |work=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1963 |publisher=Nobel Prize Outreach  |access-date=July 9, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1963 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/summary/ |access-date=August 28, 2023 |publisher=Nobel Prize Outreach}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|title=A nuclear physics primer |id=osflPlZdF_o }}</ref> The other half of that year's Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to [[Eugene Wigner]]. She was the second female Nobel laureate in physics, after [[Marie Curie]],{{sfn|Ferry|2003|p=87}} and would be the last for over half a century, until [[Donna Strickland]] was awarded the prize in 2018.<ref name="sandiegouniontribune2018" />

== Later life and recognition ==
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| image1            = Katowice - Tablica pamiątkowa - Maria Goeppert-Mayer.JPG
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| caption2          = Commemorative plaques for Maria Goeppert-Mayer in [[Katowice]], Poland
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In 1960, Goeppert-Mayer was appointed Full Professor of Physics at the [[University of California, San Diego]]. Although she suffered from a stroke shortly after arriving there, she continued to teach and conduct research for a number of years.{{sfn|Sachs|1979|pp=322–323}}{{sfn|Ferry|2003|pp=84–86}} She was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Maria+Goeppert+Mayer&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> and received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref> in 1965.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter M|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterM.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 22, 2014}}</ref>

Goeppert-Mayer died of a [[heart attack]] on February 20, 1972, in [[San Diego]] at the age of 65.{{sfn|Leiter|Ward|Leiter|2003|p=132}} She is buried at [[El Camino Memorial Park]] in San Diego.{{sfn|Wilson|2016|p=491}}

After her death, the [[Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award]] was created by the [[American Physical Society]] (APS) to honor young female physicists at the beginning of their careers. Open to all female physicists who hold PhDs, the winner receives money and the opportunity to give guest lectures about her research at four major institutions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/awards/goeppert-mayer.cfm |title=Maria Goeppert Mayer Award |publisher=[[American Physical Society]] |access-date=September 14, 2013}}</ref> In December 2018, the APS named Argonne National Laboratory an APS Historic Site in recognition of her work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201812/argonne.cfm|title=Argonne National Laboratory Named APS Historic Site|website=www.aps.org|language=en|access-date=December 15, 2018}}</ref> Argonne National Laboratory also honors her by presenting an award each year to an outstanding young woman scientist or engineer,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ne.anl.gov/About/hn/news961213.shtml |title=Maria Goeppert Mayer is role model for women scientists |publisher=[[Argonne National Laboratory]]  |access-date=September 14, 2013}}</ref> while the University of California, San Diego hosts an annual Maria Goeppert-Mayer symposium, bringing together female researchers to discuss current science.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sdsc.edu/pub/envision/v17.2/flowers.html |title=A Tradition Flowers: The Maria Goeppert Mayer Interdisciplinary Symposium at SDSC |publisher=[[San Diego Supercomputer Center]]  |access-date=September 14, 2013}}</ref> In 1996, she was inducted into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]].<ref>[https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/maria-goeppertmayer/ National Women's Hall of Fame, Maria Goeppert Mayer]</ref> In 2011, she was included in the third issuance of the ''American Scientists'' collection of US postage stamps, along with [[Melvin Calvin]], [[Asa Gray]], and [[Severo Ochoa]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uspsstamps.com/stamps/american-scientists |title=American Scientists |publisher=[[US Postal Service]] |access-date=October 15, 2013 |archive-date=April 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404184945/http://uspsstamps.com/stamps/american-scientists |url-status=dead }}</ref> Her papers are in [[Geisel Library]] at the University of California, San Diego,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0020a.html |title=Register of Maria Goeppert Mayer Papers |publisher=[[University of California, San Diego]] |access-date=September 14, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903234246/http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0020a.html |archive-date=September 3, 2013 }}</ref> and the university's physics department is housed in Mayer Hall, which is named after her and her husband.<ref name=mayerhallucsd>{{cite web|title=Mayer Hall|url=https://facilities.ucsd.edu/NA/NamedBuildings/Building.htm?Bkey=348|website=Facilities Information System|publisher=University of California, San Diego|access-date=February 8, 2015|ref=Mayer Hall|date=January 7, 2016}}</ref> [[Goeppert-Mayer (crater)|Goeppert-Mayer crater]] on [[Venus]], which has a diameter of about 35&nbsp;km, is also named after her.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA00269 |publisher=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] |title=Space Images: Venus – Stereo Image Pair of Crater Goeppert Mayer |access-date=September 14, 2013}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of female Nobel laureates]]
* [[Timeline of women in science]]
* [[Women in physics]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
* {{cite book |last=Dash |first=Joan |year=1973 |title=A life of One's Own: Three Gifted Women and the Men they Married |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-010949-3 |oclc=606211 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofonesownthr0000dash }}
* {{cite book |last=Ferry |first=Joseph |title=Maria Goeppert Mayer |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |location=Philadelphia |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7910-7247-9 |oclc=50730923 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kean |first=Sam |title=The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales from the Periodic Table of the Elements |url=https://archive.org/details/disappearingspoo0000kean |url-access=registration |year=2010 |location=New York |publisher=Little, Brown and Co |isbn=978-0-552-77750-6 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Leiter |first1=Darryl J. |first2=Paul |last2=Ward |first3=Sharon |last3=Leiter |title=A to Z of Physicists |publisher=Facts On File |location=New York |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8160-4798-7 |oclc=50622962 }}

* {{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Robert |author-link=Robert G. Sachs |title=Maria Goeppert Mayer 1906–1972: A Biographical Memoir |url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mayer-maria.pdf |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |series=Biographical Memoirs |year=1979 |access-date=September 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017045225/http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mayer-maria.pdf |archive-date=October 17, 2013 }}

* {{cite journal|last=Schiebinger|first=Londa|title=Has Feminism Changed Science?|journal=Signs|url=https://archive.org/details/hasfeminismchang0000schi|url-access=registration|year=1999|volume=25|issue=4|pages=1171–1175|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=London|doi=10.1086/495540|pmid=17089478|isbn=978-0-674-38113-1|s2cid=225088475}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Simon |first1=Rita James |last2=Clark |first2=Shirley Merritt |last3=Tifft |first3=Larry L. |title=Of Nepotism, Marriage, and the Pursuit of an Academic Career |journal=Sociology of Education |issn=0038-0407 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=344–358 |date=Autumn 1966 |jstor=2111918 |doi=10.2307/2111918 }}

* {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |edition=3rd |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-7864-7992-4 |oclc=948561021 }}
== Further reading ==
*{{cite book|last1=Haber|first1=Louis|title=Women pioneers of science|date=1979|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|location=New York|isbn=978-0152992026|edition=1st|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/womenpioneersofs00habe |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Opfell |first=Olga S. |title=The Lady Laureates: Women who have won the Nobel Prize |url=https://archive.org/details/ladylaureateswom0000opfe |url-access=registration |year=1978 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Metuchen, N.J. |isbn=978-0-8108-1161-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ladylaureateswom0000opfe/page/194 194–208 |ref=none]}}
* {{Cite interview| interviewer-last=Kuhn |interviewer-first=Thomas S. |interviewer-link=Thomas Kuhn |last=Goeppert Mayer |first=Maria |title=Mayer, Maria Goeppert on 1962 February 20 |access-date=16 June 2025 |date=20 February 1962 |url=https://repository.aip.org/mayer-maria-goeppert-1962-february-20|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Wuensch |first=Daniela |title=Der letzte Physiknobelpreis für eine Frau? Maria Goeppert Mayer: Eine Göttingerin erobert die Atomkerne. Nobelpreis 1963. Zum 50. Jubiläum. |year=2013 |publisher=Termessos Verlag |location=Göttingen, Germany |isbn=978-3-938016-15-2 |pages=148, 44 photos, 2 diagrams |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Zierdt-Warshaw |first1=Linda |last2=Winkler |first2=Alan |last3=Bernstein |first3=Leonard |title=American Women in Technology: An Encyclopedia |date=2000 |publisher=ABC-Clio |location=Santa Barbara |isbn=1-57607-072-7 |ref=none}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Maria Goeppert-Mayer|Maria Goeppert Mayer}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161116102312/http://history.aip.org/history/ead/eaccpf/11604031.html Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906–1972] at Scientific Biographies, [[American Institute of Physics]]
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1963 ''The Shell Model''

{{Manhattan Project}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1951–1975}}
{{1963 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{National Women's Hall of Fame|1990–1999}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Goeppert Mayer, Maria}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century German physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women scientists]]
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[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:German emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:German Nobel laureates]]
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[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
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[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:People from Katowice]]
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[[Category:People from Leonia, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Sarah Lawrence College faculty]]
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[[Category:Women Nobel laureates]]
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[[Category:Women on the Manhattan Project]]
[[Category:Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel]]
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