Robert Hofstadter (February 5, 1915 – November 17, 1990) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was the joint winner of the 1961

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

(together with Rudolf Mössbauer) "for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in

atomic nuclei The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. Aft ...

and for his consequent discoveries concerning the structure of

nucleon In physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus defines the atom's mass number. Until the 1960s, nucleons were thought to be ele ...

s".R. W. McAllister & Robert Hofstadter, "Elastic Scattering of 188 MeV Electrons from Proton and the Alpha Particle," ''Physical Review'', V102, p. 851 (1956). including his Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1961 ''The Electron-Scattering Method and Its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons''

Biography

Hofstadter was born in New York City on February 5, 1915, to Polish Jewish immigrants Louis Hofstadter, a salesman, and Henrietta, née Koenigsberg. He attended elementary and high schools in New York City and entered

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, graduating with a B.S. degree ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1935 at the age of 20, and was awarded the Kenyon Prize in Mathematics and Physics. He also received a Charles A. Coffin Foundation Fellowship from the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...

, which enabled him to attend graduate school at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the age of 23. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Infra-red absorption by light and heavy formic and acetic acids." He did his post-doctoral research at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and was an assistant professor at Princeton before joining

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Hofstadter taught at Stanford from 1950 to 1985. In 1942 he married Nancy Givan (1920–2007), a native of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. They had three children: Laura, Molly (who was disabled and not able to communicate), and

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winner

Douglas Hofstadter Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born 15 February 1945) is an American cognitive and computer scientist whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, analogy-making, Strange loop, strange ...

Opus

Thallium-activated sodium iodide gamma ray detector

In 1948 Hofstadter filed a patent on this for the detection of

ionizing radiation Ionizing (ionising) radiation, including Radioactive decay, nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have enough energy per individual photon or particle to ionization, ionize atoms or molecules by detaching ...

by this crystal. These thallium-activated sodium iodide detectors are widely used for gamma ray detection to this day.

Coining of the fermi (unit) and 1961 Nobel Lecture

Robert Hofstadter coined the term fermi, symbol fm, in honor of the Italian

Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), one of the founders of nuclear physics, in Hofstadter's 1956 paper published in the ''

Reviews of Modern Physics ''Reviews of Modern Physics'' (often abbreviated RMP) is a quarterly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society. It was established in 1929 and the current editor-in-chief is Michael Thoennessen. The jo ...

'' journal, "Electron Scattering and Nuclear Structure". The term is widely used by nuclear and

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...

physicists. When Hofstadter was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics, it subsequently appeared in the text of his 1961 Nobel Lecture, "The electron-scattering method and its application to the structure of nuclei and nucleons" (December 11, 1961).

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and EGRET Telescope

In his last few years, Hofstadter became interested in

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

and applied his knowledge of scintillators to the design of the

EGRET Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

gamma-ray telescope of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory named for fellow Nobel Laureate in Physics (1927), Arthur Holly Compton.

's Department of Physics credits Hofstadter with being "one of the principal scientists who developed the Compton Observatory."

Awards and honors

* 1958, elected to

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. * 1961

, joint winner with Rudolf Mössbauer, "for his ofstadter'spioneering studies of electron scattering in

and for his consequent discoveries concerning the structure of

s." *

has an annual lecture series named after Hofstadter, th
Robert Hofstadter Memorial Lectures
which consists of two lectures each year, one oriented toward the general public and the other oriented toward scientists. * 1970, elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. * 1984 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. * 1986, elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

References

Publication list

Technical reports: *Hofstadter, R.
Detection of Neutrons with Scintillation Counters
, Brookhaven National Laboratory,

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

(through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (November 1948). *Hahn, B., Ravenhall, D. G. and R. Hofstadter.
High-energy Electron Scattering and the Charge Distributions of Selected Nuclei
"

(through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), Office of Naval Research and

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, (October 1955). *Chambers, E.E. and R. Hofstadter.
The Structure of the Proton
,

(through predecessor agency the

Energy Research and Development Administration The United States Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) was a United States government organization formed from the split of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1975. It assumed the functi ...

), Office of Naval Research and

(April 1956). *Hofstadter, R.
Structure in the Proton and the Neutron
,

(through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (June 1958). *Collard, H., Hofstadter, R., Hughes, E. B., Johansson, A., Yearian, M. R., Day, R. B. and R. T. Wagner.
Elastic Electron Scattering from Tritium and Helium-3
,

(through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Office of Naval Research,

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Air Force Materiel Command, Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct- ...

, (October 1964). *Hofstadter, R.
K-edge Subtraction Angiography with Synchrotron X-Rays: Final Technical Report, (February 1, 1984 to January 31, 1987)
,

, (September 1987).

External links

* including his Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1961 ''The Electron-Scattering Method and Its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons''
Robert Hofstadter: An Oral History
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program, 1985. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofstadter, Robert 1915 births 1990 deaths Nobel laureates in Physics American Nobel laureates 20th-century American physicists City College of New York alumni American experimental physicists National Medal of Science laureates American nuclear physicists American people of German-Jewish descent Jewish American physicists Scientists from New York City Princeton University alumni Stanford University Department of Physics faculty University of Pennsylvania staff American people of Polish-Jewish descent Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the National Academy of Medicine