Aaldert Wapstra
Aaldert Hendrik Wapstra (born April 24, 1922 , † December 2, 2006 in Naarden ) was a Dutch experimental nuclear physicist.
life and work
Wapstra studied at the University of Utrecht with the doctoral examination cum laude in 1947 and received his doctorate in 1953 under CJ Bakker at the University of Amsterdam . From 1948 he was at the Instituut voor Kernfysisch Onderzoek (IKO). In 1951 and 1954 he was at the Nobel Institute in Stockholm. Since 1955 he was a professor at the TU Delft . In 1963 he became head of nuclear spectroscopy at the NIKHEF (or at first its precursor IKO), of which he was director from 1965 to 1983. In 1987 he retired.
He is known for nuclear mass determination, partly in collaboration with Josef Mattauch from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and Georges Audi from the University of Paris-South. The results were published in Nuclear Physics A. In 2004 he received the SUNAMCO Medal of the IUPAP and from 1960 to 1975 he was chairman of the IUPAP Commission for Atomic Masses. He was also an expert in beta and gamma spectroscopy of nuclei. He edited the Nuclear Spectroscopy Tables with Bob van Lieshout and Gerard Nijgh .
Wapstra was significantly involved in the introduction of the unit for atomic mass that is common today (valid from 1960). Before that, physicists and chemists had different units (the physicists used the oxygen isotope 16 as a basis, the chemists one sixteenth of the standard mixture of stable oxygen isotopes) and the chemists were unwilling to give up their unit in favor of that of the physicists, as this would result in follow-up costs in the millions Sale of chemical substances would have resulted. It was only when Wapstra and colleagues suggested carbon 12 as the basis instead (which resulted in a much smaller correction to the benefit of the sales proceeds), they agreed.
In 1956 he and Felix Boehm confirmed the parity violation discovery by CS Wu .
Fonts
- Atomic masses of nuclides. In: Siegfried Flügge: Handbuch der Physik , Volume 38-1, 1958
literature
- G. Audi: The History of Nuclidic Masses and of their Evaluation. Int.J.Mass Spectr.Ion Process. 251 (2006) 85-94, arxiv
Web links
- Obituary by Kors Bos, Wim Lourens, Joop Konijn, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde, February 2007, pdf
- Obituary by Georges Audi and David Lunney
- Atomic Mass Evaluation (AME) 2003
Individual evidence
- ^ North Holland / Interscience 1959
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wapstra, Aaldert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wapstra, Aaldert Hendrik |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 24, 1922 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 2, 2006 |
| Place of death | Naarden |