Manuel Sandoval Vallarta facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Manuel Sandoval Vallarta
|
|
|---|---|
Sculpture of Manuel Sandoval Vallarta in the CONACyT building
|
|
| Born | 11 February 1899 |
| Died | 18 April 1977 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Alma mater | MIT |
| Known for | Cosmic ray research |
| Spouse(s) | María Luisa Margain |
| Awards | Légion d'honneur (France, 1952); National Prize for Exact Sciences (Mexico, 1961) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | MIT UNAM |
| Notable students | Richard Feynman and Julius Stratton |
Manuel Sandoval Vallarta (born February 11, 1899, died April 18, 1977) was an important Mexican physicist. He taught physics at two famous universities: MIT in the United States and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Contents
A Life in Science
Early Life and Education
Manuel Sandoval Vallarta was born in Mexico City. He came from a family with a history of important leaders. He studied physics at MIT in the United States. He earned his first degree in 1921. Then, he completed his Ph.D. in physics in 1924.
After finishing his studies, Vallarta joined the physics team at MIT. He became a full professor there. In 1927, he received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship. This allowed him to study physics in Germany for two years.
Learning from Great Minds
While in Germany, Vallarta studied at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig. He had the amazing chance to learn from some of the most famous scientists in history. These included Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, and Werner Heisenberg. Imagine learning from such brilliant minds!
Mentoring Future Scientists
Vallarta was not just a great scientist himself. He also helped teach and guide other young scientists. At MIT, he was a mentor to two students who later became very famous. One was Richard Feynman, who won a Nobel Prize. The other was Julius Stratton.
Vallarta even worked with Feynman on his very first scientific paper. This paper was about how cosmic rays scatter. Cosmic rays are tiny, super-fast particles that come from space.
The Feynman Story
There's a fun story about Vallarta and Feynman. Vallarta told Feynman that in science, the older, more experienced scientist's name usually comes first on a paper. Years later, a famous physicist named Heisenberg wrote a book about cosmic rays. At the end of his book, he mentioned a finding by "Vallarta and Feynman."
When Feynman saw this, he was very excited. He asked Vallarta if he had seen Heisenberg's book. Vallarta knew why Feynman was smiling. He replied, "Yes. You're the last word in cosmic rays." This was a clever way of saying Feynman's name was last in the important mention.
Discoveries About Cosmic Rays
Manuel Sandoval Vallarta did important work on cosmic rays. He worked with Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist and priest. They found that the strength of cosmic rays changes depending on where you are on Earth. This happens because these tiny, charged particles interact with Earth's magnetic field.
They also developed ideas about where primary cosmic radiation comes from. They used their theories to study the Sun's magnetic field. They also looked at how the rotation of our galaxy affects these rays.
Return to Mexico
From 1943 to 1946, Vallarta split his time between MIT and UNAM. By 1946, he decided to work full-time at UNAM in Mexico.
At UNAM, he continued his research. He worked with other famous scientists like Luis Walter Alvarez and Arthur Compton. Together, they did experiments to show that cosmic rays are made up of protons. Protons are tiny parts of atoms.
Later Contributions
Later in his life, Vallarta took on important leadership roles. In 1946, he became a member of UNAM's governing board. He also directed the National Polytechnic Institute from 1944 to 1947.
He served on many government committees in Mexico. These committees mostly focused on science policy. He also represented Mexico at many international science conferences. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1954.
See also
In Spanish: Manuel Sandoval Vallarta para niños
- MIT Physics Department
