Physics: Biographies

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. World Encyclopedia Further reading

John Hasbrouck Van Vleck

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | Copyright

John Hasbrouck Van Vleck 1899–1980, American physicist, b. Middletown, Conn., Ph.D. Harvard, 1922. As a professor at Harvard, Van Vleck developed fundamental theories on the quantum mechanics of magnetism and on molecular bonding (ligand field theory). For his contributions to the understanding of electrons in magnetic, noncrystalline solids, Van Vleck was awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Philip W. Anderson and Sir Nevill Mott .

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Van Vleck, John

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

Van Vleck, John ( Hasbrouck) (1899–1980) US mathematician and physicist. He studied the behaviour of electrons in non-crystalline, magnetic materials. In the 1930s, Van Vleck became the first scientist to use quantum mechanics to explain the phenomenon of magnetism. He shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in physics.