Meer, Simon van der

Meer, Simon van der

▪ Dutch physicist
born Nov. 24, 1925, The Hague, Neth.

      Dutch physical engineer who in 1984, with Carlo Rubbia (Rubbia, Carlo), received the Nobel Prize for Physics for his contribution to the discovery of the massive, short-lived subatomic particles designated W and Z that were crucial to the unified electroweak theory posited in the 1970s by Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam, and Sheldon Glashow.

      After receiving a degree in physical engineering from the Higher Technical School in Delft, Neth., in 1952, van der Meer worked for the Philips Company. In 1956 he joined the staff of CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), near Geneva, where he remained until his retirement in 1990.

      The electroweak theory provided the first reliable estimates of the masses of the W (W particle) and Z particles (Z particle)—nearly 100 times the mass of the proton. The most promising means of bringing about a physical interaction that would release enough energy to form the particles was to cause a beam of highly accelerated protons, moving through an evacuated tube, to collide with an oppositely directed beam of antiprotons. CERN's circular particle accelerator, four miles in circumference, was the first to be converted into a colliding-beam apparatus in which the desired experiments could be performed. Manipulation of the beams required a highly effective method for keeping the particles from scattering out of the proper path and hitting the walls of the tube. Van der Meer, in response to this problem, devised a mechanism that would monitor the particle scattering at a particular point on the ring and would trigger a device on the opposite side of the ring to modify the electric fields in such a way as to keep the particles on course.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Simon van der meer — (né le 24 novembre 1925 à La Haye) est un physicien néerlandais. Avec Carlo Rubbia, il a codécouvert les particules W et les particules Z, ce qui leur a valu le prix Nobel de physique en 1984. Lien externe (en) Autobiographie sur le site de la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Simon van der Meer — (* 24. November 1925 in Den Haag; † 4. März 2011 in Genf[1]) war ein niederländischer Physiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Wirken 2 Literatur 3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Simon van der Meer — (La Haya, 24 de noviembre, de 1925 – Ginebra, 4 de marzo de 2011) fue un físico neerlandés especializado en la aceleración de partículas que inventó el concepto de estocástico de refrigeración en las colisiones, haciendo posible el descubrimiento …   Wikipedia Español

  • Simon van der Meer — (24 novembre 1925 à La Haye, Pays Bas et mort le 4 mars 2011[1]) est un physicien néerlandais. Il est colauréat avec Carlo Rubbia du prix Nobel de physique de 1984[2]. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Simon van der Meer — Infobox Scientist name = Simon van der Meer box width = image size =150px caption = Simon van der Meer birth date = November 24, 1925 birth place = The Hague death date = death place = residence = |citizenship = nationality = Dutch ethnicity =… …   Wikipedia

  • Physiknobelpreis 1984: Simon van der Meer — Carlo Rubbia —   Der Italiener und der Niederländer wurden für ihre Verdienste ausgezeichnet, die zur Entdeckung der Feldpartikel W und Z geführt haben.    Biografien   Simon van der Meer, * Den Haag (Niederlande) 24. 11. 1925; 1945 52 Studium der Technischen… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Van der Meer — Van der Meer, Simon Van der Meer, de Delft …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Van der Meer — is a Dutch locative surname that simply means the phrase from the lake in English. Many years ago, the ancestors of people with this surname would have lived near a lake in the Netherlands which is how the name originated.People with this surname …   Wikipedia

  • Van der Meer — ist der Name von Douwe Mout van der Meer (1705–1758), niederländischer Schausteller Frederik Gerben Louis van der Meer (1904 1994), niederländischer Archäologe Joannis van der Meer, bekannt als Jan Vermeer (1632–1675), holländischer Maler John… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • van der Meer — Simon …   Scientists

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