Ben Roy Mottelson

Ben Roy Mottelson (July 9, 1926 – May 13, 2022) was an American-born Danish nuclear physicist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics with Aage Bohr and James Rainwater for "the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection." Their collaborative work revolutionized the understanding of nuclear structure by integrating particle and collective motion models, challenging earlier assumptions of spherical nuclei and incorporating distortions caused by nucleon interactions.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, to parents Goodman and Georgia Mottelson, he was the second of three children and grew up in La Grange, Illinois, in a household emphasizing scientific, political, and moral discussions. Mottelson graduated from high school during World War II and enrolled at Purdue University through the V-12 Navy College Training Program, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1947. He then pursued graduate studies at Harvard University, completing a PhD in nuclear physics in 1950 under the supervision of Julian Schwinger.

Ben Roy Mottelson was born on July 9, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois, to a Jewish family. He was the second of three children born to Goodman Mottelson, an engineer with a university degree, and Georgia Mottelson (née Blum).