1929-

German physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1961 for the discovery of the phenomenon which bears his name. Radioactive nuclei generally emit gamma waves of varying wavelength due to the recoil of the nuclei. When such nuclei are held in a crystal lattice at low temperature, the emitted gamma rays have precise wavelengths since the recoil is absorbed by the lattice. This phenomenon is known as the Mossbauer Effect.