Marcos Moshinsky Borodiansky (russian: Маркос Мошинский Бородянский; uk, Маркос Мошинскі; 1921–2009) was a Mexican

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 ...

of Ukrainian-

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

origin whose work in the field of

elementary particles In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle that is not composed of other particles. Particles currently thought to be elementary include electrons, the fundamental fermions (quarks, leptons, anti ...

won him the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Investigation in 1988 and the

UNESCO Science Prize The UNESCO Science Prize is a biennial scientific prize awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to "a person or group of persons for an outstanding contribution they have made to the technological d ...

in 1997.

Early life

He was born in 1921 into a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish family in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

. At the age of three, he emigrated as a refugee to Mexico, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1942. He received a bachelor's degree in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a doctorate in the same discipline at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

under Nobel Laureate

Eugene Paul Wigner Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his con ...

Career

In the 1950s he researched

nuclear reaction In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is a process in which two nuclei, or a nucleus and an external subatomic particle, collide to produce one or more new nuclides. Thus, a nuclear reaction must cause a transformatio ...

s and the structure of the

atomic nucleus 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 based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. After the discovery of the neutron ...

, introducing the concept of the '' transformation bracket for eigenstates of the quantum harmonic oscillator'', which, together with the tables elaborated in collaboration with Thomas A. Brody, simplified calculations in the

nuclear shell model In nuclear physics, atomic physics, and nuclear chemistry, the nuclear shell model is a model of the atomic nucleus which uses the Pauli exclusion principle to describe the structure of the nucleus in terms of energy levels. The first shell m ...

and became an indispensable reference for the study of nuclear structure. In 1952, his work on the transient dynamics of matter waves led to the discovery of diffraction in time. After completing postdoctoral studies at the Henri Poincaré Institute in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, he returned to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

to serve as a professor at the UNAM. In 1967 he was chosen president of the Mexican Society of Physics and in 1972 he was admitted to the National College. He was the editor of several international scientific reviews, including the ''

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...

'', and authored four books and more than 200 technical papers. He received the Mexican National Prize for Science (1968), the Luis Elizondo Prize (1971), the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Investigation (1988) and the

(1997). In 1990 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society ''"for his many fundamental contributions to the description of many-body quantum systems through the use of group-theoretical techniques"'' While practicing physics, he wrote a weekly column in the newspaper ''

Excélsior ''Excélsior'' is a daily newspaper in Mexico City. It is the second oldest paper in the city after '' El Universal'', printing its first issue on March 18, 1917. History ''Excélsior'' was founded by Rafael Alducin and first published in Mexic ...

'' on Mexican politics.

References

This article began as a translation of the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia. *M. Moshinsky and Y. F. Smirnov, ''The harmonic oscillator in modern physics'', Informa HealthCare, Amsterdam 1996. *

External links

Profile at the Prince of Asturias Foundation

Profile at the National College of Mexico
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moshinsky, Marcos 2009 deaths 1921 births Scientists from Mexico City UNESCO Science Prize laureates Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico) Particle physicists 20th-century Mexican physicists Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty Mexican people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Ukrainian Jews Soviet emigrants to Mexico Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences Mathematical physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society