Peter Meyer (January 6, 1920 – March 7, 2002) was a German-born American astrophysicist notable for his research of

cosmic rays Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar ...

. Meyer was director of the

Enrico Fermi Institute __NOTOC__ The Institute for Nuclear Studies was founded September 1945 as part of the University of Chicago with Samuel King Allison as director. On November 20, 1955, it was renamed The Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies. The name was ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, was a chairman of the

's physics department, and a member of the

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 ...

. He was also chair of the Cosmic Ray Physics Division 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 ...

, a member of the Space Science Board of the

, and chair of the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Space Science Board.

Biography

Meyer was born in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

, in a Jewish family. He studied at the Technical University in Berlin, where he received Diplom Ingenieur (1942), with a thesis on proportional counters. He was not permitted to study on a PhD level in Germany as a Jew, and worked in a factory during the war. He received a doctorate from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

in 1948, with

Wolfgang Paul Wolfgang Paul (; 10 August 1913 – 7 December 1993) was a German physicist, who co-developed the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter which laid the foundation for what is now called an ion trap. He shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Ph ...

and

Hans Kopfermann Hans Kopfermann (26 April 1895, in Breckenheim near Wiesbaden – 26 January 1963, in Heidelberg) was a German atomic and nuclear physicist. He devoted his entire career to spectroscopic investigations, and he did pioneering work in measuring n ...

as advisers. He then had a postdoc position in the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

, and then worked as a researcher in the Max Planck Institute for Physics at Göttingen. He immigrated to the United States in 1953 and joined the faculty of the

, where he worked with

John A. Simpson John Adrian Simpson (August 20, 1854 – September 11, 1916) was a Canadian politician and businessman. Born in Peel County, Canada West, he came west in 1890 and eventually settled in Innisfail, where he opened a lumberyard. He served on Inn ...

. Meyer advanced to assistant professor in 1956, associate professor in 1962 and professor in 1966. He was the Director of the Enrico Fermi Institute from 1978 to 1983. Meyer spent the rest of his career at the University of Chicago and became emeritus in 1990. Meyer experimented with balloon-borne cosmic ray detectors; together with Simpson he built one of the first instruments for cosmic ray experiments flown on spacecraft. Meyer was "an accomplished cellist", who often played with his first wife. He was married twice, to physicist Luise Meyer-Schützmeister (d. 1981), and to virologist Patricia G. Spear. He had two sons. Meyer died in Chicago from complications of a stroke. His doctoral students include Rochus E. Vogt.

References

External links

Eugene N. Parker, "Peter Meyer", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Peter (astrophysicist) 1920 births 2002 deaths American astrophysicists University of Chicago faculty University of Göttingen alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Scientists from Berlin Emigrants from West Germany to the United States