Max Born
Compiled by Amira Abadir (aabadir3) on 12/1/2015
Max Born (1882-1970) was a physicist best known for his study of subatomic particles and contributions to quantum mechanics.
Biography
Max Born was born in Breslau, Germany on December 11th, 1882 to Gustav Born, a professor in anatomy and embryologist, and his wife Margarete.
Scientific Contributions
Quantum Mechanics
In 1926 he published a groundbreaking clarification of the probability density function in Erwin Schrödinger's equation of quantum mechanics. In 1927, with Robert Oppenheimer, he formulated the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, a calculation in quantum chemistry for determining the energy and wave function of an average-size molecule.
Contribution 2
Other Information
Awards
- While working at the University of Göttingen, Born was awarded the Prize of the Philosophical Faculty in 1906.
- Born was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954, along with Walther Bothe.
Fun Facts
- While Born worked at the University of Frankfurt-on-Main, his assistant was Otto Stern, and the work that Stern started there led to him also earning a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1943.
- Born has a lunar crater named after him.
- Born is the maternal grandfather of actress and singer Olivia Newton-John.
Connectedness
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See also
Further reading
Albert Einstein The Born-Einstein Letters by Albert Einstein and Max Born, 1971