Nevill Mott

It’s the birthday of Nevill Mott, who was born in 1905 in Leeds, England. Mott was a graduate student at Cambridge University when the foundations of quantum mechanics were being laid. His first paper -- and one of his most influential -- concerned how electrons scatter in a spin-dependent way off atoms. As his career progressed, Mott became increasingly interested in condensed-matter systems. For his work elucidating the quantum nature of ferromagnetism and other electronic properties he shared the 1977 Nobel physics prize. Mott’s influence extended beyond research. He helped to build up Bristol University’s physics department in the 1930s and 40s and to establish Cambridge University’s science park in the 1970s. Mott was a devout Christian. In an essay published in 1992 he wrote, “Science can have a purifying effect on religion, freeing it from beliefs of a pre-scientific age and helping us to a truer conception of God. At the same time, I am far from believing that science will ever give us the answers to all our questions.”

Date in History: 30 September 1905