Editing Robert Hofstadter

{{short description|American physicist (1915–1990)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Robert Hofstadter
| image             = Robert Hofstadter.jpg
| image_size        = 220px
| caption           = Robert Hofstadter (1961, [[Nobel Foundation]] photo)
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1915|2|5|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[New York City]], New York, U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1990|11|17|1915|2|5}}
| death_place       = [[Stanford, California]], U.S.
| nationality       =
| field             = [[Physics]]
| occupation        = Nuclear Physicist, Astrophysicist, University Professor
| work_institutions = [[Stanford University]]<br/>[[University of Pennsylvania]]
| alma_mater        = [[City College of New York]] <small>([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])</small><br/>[[Princeton University]] <small>([[Master of Science|MS]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])</small>
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = [[Carol Jo Crannell]]
| known_for         = [[Electron scattering]]<br/>[[Atomic nuclei]]<br/>[[Sodium iodide]] [[scintillator]]
| prizes            = {{no wrap|[[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1961)<br/>[[National Medal of Science]] (1986)<br/>[[Dirac Medal (UNSW)]] (1987)}}
| signature         = Robert Hofstadter.svg
| spouse            = Nancy (Givan) Hofstadter (1920–2007) (3 children including [[Douglas Hofstadter]])
}}
'''Robert Hofstadter''' (February 5, 1915 – November 17, 1990)<ref>Flint, Peter B., [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/19/obituaries/dr-robert-hofstadter-dies-at-75-won-nobel-prize-in-physics-in-61.html "Obituary: Dr. Robert Hofstadter Dies at 75; Won Nobel Prize in Physics in '61"], ''The New York Times'', November 19, 1990.</ref> was an [[Americans|American]] [[physicist]]. He was the joint winner of the 1961 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (together with [[Rudolf Mössbauer]]) "for his pioneering studies of [[electron scattering]] in [[atomic nuclei]] and for his consequent discoveries concerning the structure of [[nucleon]]s".<ref name="W. McAllister p. 851">R. W. McAllister & Robert Hofstadter, "Elastic Scattering of 188 MeV Electrons from Proton and the Alpha Particle," ''Physical Review'', V102, p. 851 (1956).</ref><ref name="Nobel">{{Nobelprize}} including his Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1961 ''The Electron-Scattering Method and Its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons''</ref>

== Biography ==
Hofstadter was born in [[New York City]] on February 5, 1915, to [[Polish Jewish]] immigrants Louis Hofstadter, a salesman, and Henrietta, [[née]] Koenigsberg. <ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Robert Hofstadter, U.S. Jewish Scientist, Wins 1961 Nobel Prize|url=http://www.jta.org/1961/11/03/archive/dr-robert-hofstadter-u-s-jewish-scientist-wins-1961-nobel-prize|access-date=October 20, 2013|newspaper=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]|date=November 3, 1961}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Hofstadter biography|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/318/000072102/|publisher=NNDB|access-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Guide to the Robert Hofstadter Papers |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt458037nx/entire_text/|access-date=November 5, 2014}}</ref> He attended elementary and high schools in New York City and entered [[City College of New York]], graduating with a B.S. degree ''[[magna cum laude]]'' in 1935 at the age of 20, and was awarded the Kenyon Prize in Mathematics and Physics.  He also received a Charles A. Coffin Foundation Fellowship from the [[General Electric Company]], which enabled him to attend graduate school at [[Princeton University]], where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the age of 23.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Hofstadter biography|url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10169&page=161|access-date=November 5, 2014|doi = 10.17226/10169|year = 2001|isbn = 978-0-309-07572-5}}</ref> His doctoral dissertation was titled "Infra-red absorption by light and heavy formic and acetic acids."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hofstadter|first=Robert|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/2123975|title=Infra-red absorption by light and heavy formic and acetic acids|date=1938|publisher=Princeton|language=en}}</ref> He did his post-doctoral research at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and was an assistant professor at Princeton before joining [[Stanford University]].  Hofstadter taught at Stanford from 1950 to 1985.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Hofstadter |url=https://physics.stanford.edu/people/robert-hofstadter |website=Stanford University Department of Physics |access-date=January 30, 2025}}</ref>


In 1942 he married Nancy Givan (1920–2007), a native of [[Baltimore]].<ref>[http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2007/pr-nancy-082207.html Obituary to Nancy Givan] from Stanford University, 2007.</ref>  They had three children: Laura, Molly (who was disabled and not able to communicate),<ref>[https://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/hofstadter/autolipography.html Douglas Hofstadter's autobiography]</ref> and [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winner [[Douglas Hofstadter]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010628061939/http://stills.nap.edu/html/biomems/rhofstadter.html National Academy of Sciences biography]</ref>

==Opus==
===Thallium-activated sodium iodide gamma ray detector===
In 1948 Hofstadter filed a patent on this for the detection of [[ionizing radiation]] by this crystal.<ref>{{US patent reference|number=2585551|title=Means for detecting ionizing radiations|inventor=Robert Hofstadter}}</ref><ref>[http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10169&page=163 "Robert Hofstadter"] ''Biographical Memoirs'' National Academy of Sciences</ref> These [[scintillation counter#Detection materials|thallium-activated sodium iodide detectors]] are widely used for gamma ray detection to this day.

===Coining of the fermi (unit) and 1961 Nobel Lecture===

Robert Hofstadter coined the term [[fermi (unit)|fermi]], symbol '''fm''',<ref>{{cite journal
 | title = American National Standard for Metric Practice
 | series = IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2010 (Revision of IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2002) 
 | journal = IEEE Standards Library
 | pages = 78
 | publisher = IEEE
 | date = April 11, 2011
| url = https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5750142
 | doi = 10.1109/IEEESTD.2011.5750142 
 | isbn = 978-0-7381-6533-2
 | access-date = February 18, 2014 
 }}</ref>
in honor of the Italian [[physicist]] [[Enrico Fermi]] (1901–1954), one of the founders of nuclear physics, in Hofstadter's 1956 paper published in the ''[[Reviews of Modern Physics]]'' journal, "Electron Scattering and Nuclear Structure".<ref>Hofstadter, Robert, department of physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, [http://rmp.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v28/i3/p214_1 "Electron Scattering and Nuclear Structure"], ''Rev. Mod. Phys.'' 28, 214–254 (1956) © 1956 The American Physical Society</ref> The term is widely used by nuclear and [[particle physics|particle]] physicists. When Hofstadter was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics, it subsequently appeared in the text of his 1961 Nobel Lecture, "The electron-scattering method and its application to the structure of nuclei and nucleons" (December 11, 1961).<ref name="Nobel"/>

===Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and EGRET Telescope===
In his last few years, Hofstadter became interested in [[astrophysics]] and applied his knowledge of [[scintillator]]s to the design of the [[Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope|EGRET]] [[gamma-ray telescope]] of the [[Compton Gamma Ray Observatory]] named for fellow Nobel Laureate in Physics (1927), [[Arthur Holly Compton]]. [[Stanford University]]'s Department of Physics credits Hofstadter with being "one of the principal scientists who developed the Compton Observatory."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Hofstadter Memorial Lectures|url=http://www.stanford.edu/dept/physics/events/hofstadter2004.html|publisher=Stanford University|access-date=December 7, 2013}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==

* 1958, elected to [[National Academy of Sciences]].<ref name="Nobel"/>
* 1961 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]], joint winner with [[Rudolf Mössbauer]], "for his [Hofstadter's] pioneering studies of [[electron scattering]] in [[atomic nuclei]] and for his consequent discoveries concerning the structure of [[nucleon]]s."<ref name="W. McAllister p. 851"/><ref>Robert Hofstadter [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1961/hofstadter-lecture.pdf "The Electron Scattering Method & its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons"], ''Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942–1962'', pp. 560–581, Elsevier Pub. Co., Amsterdam-London-New York (Dec 1961).</ref>
* [[Stanford University]] has an annual lecture series named after Hofstadter, the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140228130505/https://physics.stanford.edu/people/faculty/robert-hofstadter Robert Hofstadter Memorial Lectures], which consists of two lectures each year, one oriented toward the general public and the other oriented toward scientists.
* 1970, elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Hofstadter |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-hofstadter |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref>
* 1984 Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
* 1986, elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+Hofstadter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Fermi (unit)]]
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' popular TV [[sitcom]] supposedly named one of its main characters, [[Leonard Hofstadter]], after Hofstadter.
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Hofstadter, Robert, [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1961/hofstadter-lecture.pdf "The electron-scattering method and its application to the structure of nuclei and nucleons"], Nobel Lecture (December 11, 1961)
* Hofstadter, Robert, [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1961/hofstadter-speech.html "Robert Hofstadter's speech at the Nobel Banquet"], The Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, December 10, 1961.

==Publication list==
'''Technical reports''':
*Hofstadter, R. "[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4425500-detection-neutrons-scintillation-counters Detection of Neutrons with Scintillation Counters]", [[Brookhaven National Laboratory]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (November 1948).
*Hahn, B., Ravenhall, D. G. and R. Hofstadter. "[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4366094-high-energy-electron-scattering-charge-distributions-selected-nuclei High-energy Electron Scattering and the Charge Distributions of Selected Nuclei]," [[Stanford University]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), [[Office of Naval Research]] and [[United States Air Force]], (October 1955).
*Chambers, E.E. and R. Hofstadter. "[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4345570-structure-proton The Structure of the Proton]", [[Stanford University]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[Energy Research and Development Administration]]), [[Office of Naval Research]] and [[United States Air Force]] (April 1956).
*Hofstadter, R. "[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4305780-structure-proton-neutron Structure in the Proton and the Neutron]", [[Stanford University]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (June 1958).
*Collard, H., Hofstadter, R., Hughes, E. B., Johansson, A., Yearian, M. R., Day, R. B. and R. T. Wagner. "[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4621238-elastic-electron-scattering-from-tritium-helium Elastic Electron Scattering from Tritium and Helium-3]", [[Stanford University]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), [[Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]], [[Office of Naval Research]], [[Air Force Research Laboratory]], (October 1964).
*Hofstadter, R. "[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6075924-edge-subtraction-angiography-synchrotron-rays-final-technical-report-february-january K-edge Subtraction Angiography with Synchrotron X-Rays: Final Technical Report, (February 1, 1984 to January 31, 1987)]", [[Stanford University]], [[United States Department of Energy]], (September 1987).

==External links==
* {{Nobelprize}} including his Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1961 ''The Electron-Scattering Method and Its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons''
*[https://historicalsociety.stanford.edu/publications/hofstadter-robert Robert Hofstadter: An Oral History], Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program, 1985.

{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{1961 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Douglas Hofstadter}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofstadter, Robert}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:City College of New York alumni]]
[[Category:American experimental physicists]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:American nuclear physicists]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Jewish American physicists]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York City]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Stanford University Department of Physics faculty]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania staff]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]