Mössbauer effect
Efecto Mössbauer
- Date
- 1958 · confidence high
- Place
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Heidelberg, Germany
- Credited to
- Rudolf Mössbauer
- People
- 👤 Rudolf Ludwig Mößbauer1929–2011
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Nuclei in a crystal can emit and absorb gamma rays without recoil, with an energy precision of one part in 10^12. It provides the most precise clock of its time for tests of relativity.
Discovered during his doctoral thesis at the age of 29; Nobel Prize in 1961.
What it led to
- Test of gravitational redshift (Pound-Rebka, 1959)
- Mössbauer spectroscopy in chemistry and materials
- Laboratory tests of relativity
- Analysis of Martian soil (rovers)
Built on
- Nuclear physics of gamma rays
- Theory of crystal lattices (Lamb)
Made possible
- Mössbauer spectrometer
- Instruments of Mars rovers