Mossbauer, Rudolph

In 1957, Rudolph Mossbauer, during his graduate studies, discovered an outstanding effect [49] that has generated an entire field in physics, that is, a very high-resolution spectroscopy in the y-ray region of the spectrum named Mossbauer spectroscopy [50-56], The effect consists of the fact that a y photon emitted by an excited nucleus can be resonantly absorbed by another nucleus [50-56], This means that a recoilless emission and absorption has occurred. 

In 1958, Rudolph Mossbauer (1) discovered that y-ray emission without loss of energy from recoil of the nucleus could be achieved by incorporating the emitting nucleus in a crystal lattice. The phenomenon is known as the "Mossbauer effect. ... 

Mossbauer effect was first reported by Rudolph Mossbauer in 1958. Three years later, he won the Nobel Prize with his discovery. Since then, it is believed that nuclear y-ray emission and absorption process can take place in recoil-free fashion. In reality, of course we have both recoil and recoil-free events. Mossbauer also utilized the Doppler (velocity) shift to modulate the y-ray energy so that Mossbauer effect could be developed into a spectroscope for material characterization. The emission of y-rays with natural or nearly natural line width allows for observing in the y-ray spectra the interaction between the nucleus and its atom in solids and viscous liquids. 

Rudolph Mossbauer discovered the phenomenon of recoil-free nuclear resonance fluorescence in 1957-58 and the first indications of hyperfine interactions in a chemical compound were obtained by Kistner and Sunyar in 1960. From these beginnings the technique of Mbssbauer spectroscopy rapidly emerged and the astonishing versatility of this new technique soon led to its extensive application to a wide variety of chemical and solid-state problems. This book reviews the results obtained by MSssbauer spectroscopy during the past ten years in the belief that this will provide a firm basis for the continued development and application of the technique to new problems in the future. 

Other fields benefited, too, from the strong neutron fluxes now accessible for irradiations. New phenomena were observed, such as the annealing of hot-atom effects in inorganic solids by postirradiation heating, leading to an increased retention in the form of the original species (Green and Maddock 1949 Rieder et al. 1950). A new and powerful tool was discovered by Rudolph Mossbauer in 1958 recoilless emission ofy rays with natural or nearly natural line width from nuclei embedded in a solid lattice (Mossbauer 1958, 1962). Resonant absorption of such emissions, e.g., the 14.4 keV transition of Fe fed in the decay of Co (T1/2 = 270 d), provides... 

Mossbauer spectroscopy is a versatile technique that is useful in many areas of science such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Metallurgy. It yields very precise information about the chemical, structural, magnetic properties of a material. The basic feature of the technique is the discovery of recoUless y-ray emission and absorption, now referred to as the Mossbauer Effect, after its discoverer Rudolph Mossbauer, who reported the effect in 1958 (Mossbauer 1958) and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1961 for his pioneer work. 

Ihe Mossbauer effect Is based on the resonant absorption of nuclear gamma radiations certain stable nuclear Isotopes. Discovered by Rudolph Mossbauer in 1957, the i enmnenmi spawned a technique which has since had numerous applications in biophysics. With the exception of T e, which is about 2.2% in abundance in the natural isotopic mixtvire of iron, none of the other Mossbauer isotopes occur in high proportion in biomolecules. However, some of these isotopes may be introduced into biological macromolecules by the so called enrichment methods. Mossbauer isotopes most often used for biological applications are T e, and I. It is not possible to present a complete analysis of this phenomenon in this section a brief explanation and a brief idea about the applications of this technique is given below. 

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