Maria Mayer Quotes & Sayings

The shell model, although proposed by theoreticians, really corresponds to the experimentalist's approach. It was born from a thorough study of the experimental data, plotting them in different ways, and looking for interconnections. — Maria Goeppert-Mayer

Winning the prize wasn't half as exciting as doing the work itself. — Maria Goeppert-Mayer

Mathematics began to seem too much like puzzle solving. Physics is puzzle solving, too, but of puzzles created by nature, not by the mind of man. — Maria Goeppert-Mayer

The Maria Mayer shell model suggestion in 1949 was a great triumph and fitted my belief that a nuclear shell model should represent a proper approach to understanding nuclear structure. — James Rainwater

My father said, Don't grow up to be a woman, and what he meant by that was, a housewife ... without any interests. — Maria Goeppert-Mayer