Clifford G. Shull
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Clifford G. Shull
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1994
Born: 23 September 1915, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Died: 31 March 2001, Medford, MA, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA
Prize motivation: “for the development of the neutron diffraction technique”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
Atomic nuclei are composed of protons and neutrons. Clifford Shull and Bertram Brockhouse developed methods for investigating different materials with beams of neutrons created in a nuclear reactor. According to principles of quantum mechanics, neutrons and other particles can be described as a wave movement, and neutron radiation that passes a regular atomic structure gives rise to diffraction patterns. In 1946 Shull developed methods to make use of this to determine the structure of different molecules and materials.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
