Eugen Merzbacher (April 9, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American physicist. Merzbacher was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. Being a Jew, he emigrated in 1935 with his family from Germany to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, where his father worked as a chemist. He received his licentiate from

University of Istanbul , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

in Turkey in 1943 and taught high school in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

for the next four years. In 1947 he moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to attend

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, where he earned his M.A. (1948) and his Ph.D. with Julian Schwinger in 1950. During 1950/51, he worked at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

. In 1951-52, Merzbacher was a visiting assistant professor at Duke University. In 1952 he joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In 1959/60, he worked at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen, where he became closely acquainted with

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...

; in 1967/68 he was visiting professor at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

. In 1977 he was the recipient of a U. S. Senior Scientist Humboldt Award at the University of Frankfurt. In 1986 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Universities of Edinburgh and Stirling in Scotland. He was an active member of the American Physical Society (APS) and in 1990, he served as APS President. In 1991 he was Arnold Bernhard Visiting Professor at Williams College. In 1992 he received the Oersted Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers. In 2009 Merzbacher was the recipient of the Francis Slack Award from the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society. Merzbacher's research has been in applications of quantum mechanics to atomic and nuclear collision theory. He was a co-founder of the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. From 1977 to 1982 he served as chairman of the Department of Physics at the

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

(UNC). He was named a Kenan Professor in 1969. He received UNC's 197
Thomas Jefferson Award
Merzbacher is probably best known for his influential graduate level

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

textbook, which has so far seen three editions, the most recent in 1998. He married Ann Townsend Reid and together they had four children: Celia, Charles, Matthew and Mary (deceased). Merzbacher retired in 1991. In 1990, he was President of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

. In 1993, UNC presented him with an honorary doctorate in science.

Books

*Quantum Mechanics, John Wiley, 1961, 1970, 3rd edition (completely revised) 1998,

References

External links

Short biography and interviewsBiography at the American Physical Society
American physicists University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Harvard University alumni Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars People from Berlin 1921 births German emigrants to Turkey Jewish American physicists 2013 deaths Turkish emigrants to the United States 21st-century American Jews Presidents of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Physical Society {{US-physicist-stub