Maria Geoppert was born on June 28, 1906, in Kattowiz, the Upper Silesia province in Prussia. She was born in the short window of peace and prosperity after Prussia’s multiple wars and conflicts during the previous century. Kattowiz was, and still is, an economic powerhouse, which presented Geoppert with a surplus of opportunity in all directions. From a young age, Mayer had taken an interest in her father’s work as a university professor. Her burning desire to absorb information at the university resulted in her introduction to a multitude of accomplished scholars: Arthur Holly Compton, Max Delbrueck, Paul A. M. Dirac, Enrico Fermi, Werner Heisenberg, John von Neumann, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Wolfgang Pauli, Linus Pauling, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Victor Weisskopf, Richard Courant, Hermann Weyl, Gustav Herglotz, Edmund Landau, Max Born, and David Hilbert. Geoppert quickly immersed herself with the rich aura of knowledge presented by this rare opportunity (Sachs, 1979).
Prussia’s educational system at the time was ahead of the curve in most respects, however, public university access for women had only recently been secured. This obstacle was not a cause for hesitation for Geoppert, however. Geoppert surpassed standards throughout her elementary education, and at the age of fifteen she abandoned public institutions in favor of a rigorous private school called Fraunstudium. Geoppert had particular interest in this school due to its administration being composed of suffragettes focused on female university admission. After three years of preparation and relentless research at Fraunstudium, Geoppert was admitted to a coeducational university in Gottingen. It was here that Geoppert announced her choice study of discipline to be mathematics.
In the midst of her educational upbringing, the politically stable empire of Prussia had seen a dramatic decline in foreign relations. King Wilhelm II took the crown and gradually began redacting previous efforts on securing alliances indiscriminately in favor of nationalism. The dismissal of the renowned chancellor Otto von Bismarck from the governmental cabinet combined with Wilhelm’s focus on aligning with the Austria-Hungary super power and neglect of Bismarck’s Triple Alliance disastrously resulted in igniting World War I. Geoppert wasted little time being distracted by the massive chaos occurring in the world around her and remained protected within the heart of the demilitarized zone. The national burden began to slow down Geoppert’s progress after the end war resolution, which abolished Prussia as a kingdom entirely. The spoils were claimed by the developing nation of Germany and their political Nazi Party regime (Mombaeur, 2001).
The drastic turn of events prompted her to broaden her horizons and search for opportunities elsewhere in the world. This life pursuit led her to a colleague contact at John Hopkins University in the United States. Geoppert engaged in a romantic relationship with Joseph Edward Mayer and a subsequent marriage in 1930 to which she took his last name. The United States offered Maria Mayer a whole new cast of opportunities and exposure to several theoretical and technological developments. She began teaching in the physics department in spite of an inadequate salary. Nevertheless, Mayer took full advantage of her new position and wrote a ground-breaking paper just five years later in 1935. Her research provided a theoretical explanation for disproportionate neutrino partial decay rate and emission, now known as double beta decay.
The highly specialized nature of quantum physics at the time gathered little attention to Mayer’s new theory. One of the leading pioneers in quantum research at the time, Karl Herzfeld, took notice in the discovery and offered a partnership opportunity to collaborate their research efforts. The compatibility of the team’s methodology worked seamlessly due to both parties utilizing Max Born’s matrix mechanical approach in lieu of Erwin Schrodinger’s equivalent wave formulation. The research produced here provided essential solutions needed to develop a world shaping technology known as the hydrogen bomb.
The global theatre began setting the stage for World War II and changed the academic mentality worldwide. Nations began nationalizing and focusing their efforts on preservation and security. The United States was no exception to nationalism and Mayer answered the call by joining an international research team in a project known as the Manhattan Project in 1941. This research team worked under an unusually competitive atmosphere given the circumstances. Not only were they were faced with classified knowledge of the destructive and powerful nature their developments would result in if completed, but further pressure was endowed due to competing research by teams in Germany. In spite of the overwhelming responsibility they faced, Mayer managed to solve an essential enigma governing the structure of nuclear shells and calculating particle stability ratios.
As the war reached a climatic ending point and tensions waned, the research team behind the Manhattan Project was recognized by receiving the Nobel Prize for Physics. Mayer became the second female recipient of the award behind Marie Curie. Mayer’s biography concludes with her peaceful retirement in San Diego where she continued her contribution by becoming a local university chemistry professor (Sachs, 1979).
