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Walter M. Elsasser

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German-American physicist

GermanyScientistsLived 1904 to 1991 · aged 87
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Walter Maurice Elsasser was a German-born American physicist who developed the presently accepted dynamo theory to explain Earth's magnetic field. He proposed that this field results from electric currents induced in the fluid outer core.

Also inDeutsch

Photos 1

Awards 7

1987National Medal of Science
1979Arthur L. Day Medal
1977Carl Friedrich Gauss Medal
1971John Adam Fleming Medal
1962Fellow of the American Geophysical Union
1959William Bowie Medal
Fellow of the American Physical Society

Connected to Walter 6

About this person

Walter Maurice Elsasser was a German-born American physicist who developed the presently accepted dynamo theory to explain Earth's magnetic field. He proposed that this field results from electric currents induced in the fluid outer core. He demonstrated that the history of Earth's magnetic field is revealed by the magnetic orientation of minerals in rocks. He is also noted for his unpublished proposal that the diffraction of electrons sent through a crystal would demonstrate their wavelike nature. The subsequent Davisson-Germer experiment showing this effect led to a Nobel Prize in Physics.

Country
Germany
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1904 to 1991 · aged 87
Written about in
16 languages

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