Lucy Mensing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lucy Mensing (also Lucie), later Mensing-Schütz or Schütz, (born March 11, 1901 in Hamburg , † April 28, 1995 in Meiningen ) was a German physicist and mathematician and a pioneer of quantum mechanics .

Scientific career

Mensing studied mathematics, physics and chemistry at the University of Hamburg . During her studies she specialized in theoretical physics. In 1923/24 she wrote a thesis in which she applied the older quantum hypothesis based on Bohr-Sommerfeld's theory, which was based on electron trajectories, to diatomic molecules. This work was published in the Zeitschrift für Physik in 1925 . In 1925 she received her doctorate under Wilhelm Lenz with a thesis on the influence of electric fields on the width of spectral lines.

After her doctorate, she got the opportunity to come to Göttingen and take part in the development of quantum mechanics, where she was advised by Pascual Jordan . She studied the rotational spectrum of diatomic molecules using the methods of matrix mechanics . After Wolfgang Pauli's treatment of the hydrogen atom, this was one of the first applications of the new quantum mechanics to physical systems. In the course of this work she was the first to find the permissible values ​​for the quantum mechanical orbital angular momentum. The results were published in the Zeitschrift für Physik in 1926.

In Hamburg she worked together with Wolfgang Pauli on the calculation of the electrical polarizability of gases from diatomic molecules with the help of matrix mechanics. The result was also published in 1926 in the Physikalische Zeitschrift . This work was another milestone in the application of quantum mechanics.

She then published in 1926 on the matrix mechanics applied to the partial Paschen-Back effect in continuation of the work of Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan .

In 1926, Alfred Landé offered her a position in Tübingen, which she also accepted. There she dealt with the scattering of slow electrons on atoms, about which she wrote a publication in 1927.

She published her last journal article in 1930 on the broadening of spectral lines.

Private life

Lucy Mensing was born in Hamburg. Her parents were the businessman Hermann Mensing and his wife Martha.

In Tübingen she met the physicist Wilhelm Schütz (1900–1972). He had received his doctorate from Walther Gerlach and dealt experimentally with spectroscopy. Later he was a professor in Jena. At the time they met, he was assistant to Walther Gerlach. The two married in 1928. After the birth of her first son in 1930, she ended her scientific career and mainly looked after her family. She had a second son and two daughters. Lucy Mensing continued to follow what was happening in physics, maintained contacts with colleagues and supported her husband in his work, for example by preparing scripts for his lectures. As a contribution to her husband's 1936 Handbuch der Experimentalphysik , she wrote a section on the quantum mechanical theory of the Faraday effect . She had a lifelong friendship with Ernst Ising .

The family moved to Munich in 1929 and to Königsberg in 1936. Shortly before the end of the Second World War, they fled to Jena, where Wilhelm Schütz had set up a branch of his institute. During this difficult time, Lucy Schütz went “stubble” (picking up crops) and worked as a cleaning lady. In March 1946 she found a job in Jena as a trainee assistant at the mathematical institute. In October 1946, the Soviets deported the family to an island in Lake Seliger near Ostashkov as part of the Ossawakim campaign . There Lucy Schütz worked as a teacher for German and history at a school for the children of German internees. In June 1952 the family was able to return to Jena.

Lucy Schütz died on April 28, 1995 in Meiningen.

Fonts

  • On the perturbation mechanics of the molecular models. Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 34, 1925, pp. 602-610
  • Contribution to the theory of the broadening of spectral lines. Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 34, 1925, pp. 611–621 (from the dissertation)
  • The rotational vibration bands according to quantum mechanics. Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 36, 1926, pp. 814-823
  • About the dielectric constant of dipole gases according to quantum mechanics. With Wolfgang Pauli. Physikalische Zeitschrift, Volume 27, 1926, pp. 814-823
  • The intensities of the Zeeman components in the partial Paschen-Back effect. Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 39, 1926, pp. 24-28
  • On the theory of the collision of atoms with slow electrons. Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 45, 1927, pp. 603-609
  • On the theory of coupling broadening of spectral lines. Zeitschrift für Physik, Volume 61, 1930, pp. 655-699

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Gernot Münster: (Not) a classic career? In: Physics Journal . tape 19 , no. 6 . Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co., Weinheim June 2020, p. 30-34 .
  2. ^ German biography: Schütz, Lucy - German biography. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b Lucy Mensing: On the perturbation mechanics of the molecular models . In: Journal of Physics . tape 34 , no. 1 , December 1, 1925, ISSN  0044-3328 , p. 602-610 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01328505 .
  4. ^ German biography: Lenz, Wilhelm - German biography. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b Lucy Mensing: Contribution to the theory of the broadening of spectral lines . In: Journal of Physics . tape 34 , no. 1 , December 1, 1925, ISSN  0044-3328 , p. 611-621 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01328506 .
  6. ↑ According to the memories of Pascual Jordan , this was the first application of the new quantum mechanics to diatomic molecules. Pascual Jordan, Oral History Interview 1963 with Thomas Kuhn 1963.
  7. ↑ a b Lucy Mensing: The rotational vibration bands according to quantum mechanics . In: Journal of Physics . tape 36 , no. 11 , November 1, 1926, ISSN  0044-3328 , p. 814-823 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01400216 .
  8. ↑ a b Lucy Mensing, Wolfgang Pauli: About the dielectric constant of dipole gases according to quantum mechanics . In: Physikalische Zeitschrift . tape 27 , January 1, 1926, p. 814-823 .
  9. ↑ a b Lucy Mensing: The intensities of the Zeeman components in the partial Paschen-Back effect . In: Journal of Physics . tape 39 , no. 1 , January 1, 1926, ISSN  0044-3328 , p. 24-28 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01321897 .
  10. ↑ a b Lucy Mensing: On the theory of the collision of atoms with slow electrons . In: Journal of Physics . tape 45 , no. 9 , September 1, 1927, ISSN  0044-3328 , p. 603-609 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01331923 .
  11. ↑ a b Lucy Schütz-Mensing: On the theory of coupling broadening of spectral lines . In: Journal of Physics . tape 61 , no. 9 , September 1, 1930, ISSN  0044-3328 , p. 655-659 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01341175 .
personal data
SURNAME Mensing, Lucy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mensing, Lucie; Mensing-Schütz, Lucy; Contactor, Lucy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1995
Place of death Meiningen