PHYSICIST

Willis Lamb

1913 - 2008

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Willis Eugene Lamb Jr. (; July 12, 1913 – May 15, 2008) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1955 "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum." The Nobel Committee that year awarded half the prize to Lamb and the other half to Polykarp Kusch, who won "for his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron." Lamb was able to precisely determine a surprising shift in electron energies in a hydrogen atom (see Lamb shift). Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Willis Lamb has received more than 225,148 page views. His biography is available in 67 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 62 in 2019). Willis Lamb is the 104th most popular physicist (up from 197th in 2019), the 371st most popular biography from United States (up from 906th in 2019) and the 10th most popular American Physicist.

Willis Lamb is most famous for his discovery of the Lamb shift in the hydrogen spectrum. This discovery was the first experimental evidence that the electron can behave as a wave as well as a particle.

Memorability Metrics

  • 230k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 68.52

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 67

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 12.55

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.23

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Willis Lamb ranks 104 out of 851. Before him are George Gamow, Owen Willans Richardson, Edward Victor Appleton, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, Dennis Gabor, and François Arago. After him are Owen Chamberlain, Roger Penrose, Alfred Kastler, Jean-Baptiste Biot, Heinrich Rohrer, and Ben Roy Mottelson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1913, Willis Lamb ranks 18. Before him are Jesse Owens, Klaus Barbie, Gustáv Husák, Burt Lancaster, Ramón Mercader, and Paul Ricœur. After him are Makarios III, Sabiha Gökçen, Benjamin Britten, Kenzō Tange, Lon Nol, and Roger Garaudy. Among people deceased in 2008, Willis Lamb ranks 16. Before him are Irena Sendler, Charlton Heston, Arthur C. Clarke, Miriam Makeba, Mahmoud Darwish, and Hua Guofeng. After him are Richard Widmark, Richard Wright, Sydney Pollack, Harold Pinter, George Habash, and Jørn Utzon.

Others Born in 1913

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Others Deceased in 2008

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Willis Lamb ranks 371 out of 20,380. Before him are Jennifer Lopez (1969), Joseph Stiglitz (1943), Jerry Lewis (1926), Jefferson Davis (1808), Harry Nilsson (1941), and Harvey Keitel (1939). After him are Owen Chamberlain (1920), Robert Peary (1856), Virginia Apgar (1909), Paulette Goddard (1910), Charles Greeley Abbot (1872), and Michael Clarke Duncan (1957).

Others born in United States

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Among PHYSICISTS In United States

Among physicists born in United States, Willis Lamb ranks 10. Before him are Robert Andrews Millikan (1868), Carl David Anderson (1905), Ernest Lawrence (1901), Percy Williams Bridgman (1882), John Bardeen (1908), and Clinton Davisson (1881). After him are Owen Chamberlain (1920), Ben Roy Mottelson (1926), Joseph Henry (1797), Val Logsdon Fitch (1923), Robert Coleman Richardson (1937), and Donald A. Glaser (1926).

American born Physicists

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