Henry Primakoff was a theoretical physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 who is famous for his discovery of the Primakoff effect

Primakoff effect

Primakoff effect is the resonant production of neutral pseudoscalar mesons by high-energy photons interacting with an atomic nucleus...

.

Primakoff contributed to the understanding of weak interaction

Weak interaction

Weak interaction , is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars...

s, double beta decay

Double beta decay

Double beta decay is a radioactive decay process where a nucleus releases two beta rays as a single process.In double-beta decay, two neutrons in the nucleus are converted to protons, and two electrons and two electron antineutrinos are emitted...

, spin wave

Spin wave

Spin waves are propagating disturbances in the ordering of magnetic materials. These low-lying collective excitations occur in magnetic lattices with continuous symmetry. From the equivalent quasiparticle point of view, spin waves are known as magnons, which are boson modes of the spin lattice...

s in ferromagnetism

Ferromagnetism

Ferromagnetism is the basic mechanism by which certain materials form permanent magnets, or are attracted to magnets. In physics, several different types of magnetism are distinguished...

 and the interaction between Neutrino

Neutrino

A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...

s and the atomic nucleus. He gave his name the Holstein-Primakoff transformation

Holstein-Primakoff transformation

One of the very important aspects of quantum mechanics is the occurrence of—in general—non-commuting operators which represent observables, quantities that we can measure....

 which is designed to treat spin waves as bosonic excitations.

Primakoff was the first Donner Professor of Physics in the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

. He was married to Mildred Cohn

Mildred Cohn

Mildred Cohn was an American biochemist. She graduated from high school at 14 and went on to receive her Bachelor's from Hunter College in 1931, her master's in 1932 from Columbia University, and her PhD in physical chemistry in 1938 from Columbia...

from 1946 until his death.

External links

• Henry Primakoff National Academy of Sciences biographical memoirs.