In Memoriam: Ben R. Mottelson (1926–2022)

Abstract

University of Notre Dame (Indiana, 1999); Distinguished Service Award of the Division of Nuclear Physics (2011). The citation of this last award summarizes John’s outstanding role in nuclear physics well: “For his decades of exemplary service to the Division of Nuclear Physics which have enhanced the strength and vitality of the Division as a unit of the American Physical Society, for his efforts on behalf of younger colleagues and the Bonner and Bethe prizes, and for his sage advice in faithful service on countless advisory committees and review panels.” Anybody who came a little closer to John admired his unbiased worldview. I had the opportunity to experience a little bit of this when we discussed, during his last year, the very different history of our respective fathers. I like to remember the visit of John and his wife Marianne to our retreat in the Austrian Alps (Figure 1). It reminds me of an old wisdom, supposedly from the Analects of Confucious: “Radiant days—don’t mourn that they are gone, smile that they happened.” This is how we should remember John, who enriched the life of so many of us. Figure 1. John and Marianne Schiffer on a hike with Walter and Gundl Kutschera to an “Alm" in the Austrian Alps (2006).