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John H. Van Vleck
(13 Mar 1899 - 27 Oct 1980)
American physicist and mathematician who pioneered in the modern quantum mechanical theory of magnetism, and shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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Science Quotes by John H. Van Vleck (2 quotes)
It’s pretty hard for me to lecture in French. I had to go to the Riviera afterwards to recuperate; I don’t know what the audience had to do.
— John H. Van Vleck
Referring to his eight lectures to l’Institute Henri Poincaré in May 1939. From Oral History interview with Charles Weiner and Gloria Lubkin, American Institute of Physics (28 Feb 1966). Quoted in his obituary, Brebis Bleaney, 'John Hasbrouck van Vleck Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (1982), 28, 643.
One can still say that quantum mechanics is the key to understanding magnetism. When one enters the first room with this key there are unexpected rooms beyond, but it is always the master key that unlocks each door.
— John H. Van Vleck
In Nobel Lecture, 'Quantum Mechanics, The Key to Understanding Magnetism', (8 Dec 1977).
See also:
- 13 Mar - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Van Vleck's birth.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
