George Uhlenbeck and the Discovery of Electron Spin

DEC 01, 1989

How two young Dutchmen, one with only o master’s degree, the other a graduate student, made a most important finding in theoretical atomic physics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881186

Abraham Pais

The owl depicted on the signet ring George Uhlenbeck used to wear—“Uhlenbeck” in German means “owl’s brook”—derives from his family’s coat of arms. The shield reads, in the language of heraldry: Azure, on a tree trunk proper rising from water argent, an owl contourne, head affronty. In plain language, it depicts an owl with its head turned toward you, sitting on a tree trunk in natural color, which rises up out of a silvery brook. (I owe the transcription of the Dutch blazon into English heraldry to Michael Maclagan, the Richmond Herald in the College of Arms, in London.)

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References

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More about the authors

Abraham Pais, Rockefeller University, New York.