Portrait of J. Hans D. Jensen

Birthday profile

J. Hans D. Jensen

J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)

Born
June 25, 1907
Died
February 11, 1973
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1907

About J. Hans D. Jensen

Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen (German: [ˈhans ˈjɛnzn̩]; 25 June 1907 – 11 February 1973) was a German theoretical physicist. During World War II, Jensen worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranium Club, where he contributed to the separation of uranium isotopes. After the war, Jensen was a professor at the University of Heidelberg. He was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Institute for Advanced Study, University of California, Berkeley, Indiana University, and the California Institute of Technology. Jensen was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Eugene Wigner and Maria Goeppert Mayer, sharing one half of the Prize with the latter "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure." == Education == Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen was born on 25 June 1907 in Hamburg, Germany. From 1926 to 1931, Jensen studied physics, mathematics, physical chemistry, and philosophy at the University of Freiburg and the University of Hamburg. He received his Doctor rerum naturalium in 1932 and his habilitation in 1936, both from the University of Hamburg. == Career == In 1937, Jensen became a docent at the University of Hamburg, and began working with Paul Harteck, Director of the University's Physical Chemistry Department and advisor to the Heereswaffenamt (HWA – Army Ordnance Office) on explosives. Harteck and his teaching assistant, Wilhelm Groth, made contact with the Reichskriegsministerium (RKM – Reich Ministry of War) on 24 April 1939 to tell them of potential military applications of nuclear chain reactions. Military control of the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club), began on 1 September 1939, the day that Nazi Germany initiated World War II by invading Poland.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

J. Hans D. Jensen timeline

  1. In 1932, Jensen became Scientific Assistant in the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Hamburg, and completed his habilitation there in 1936.
  2. In 1941, Jensen became Professor of Theoretical Physics at Technische Hochschule Hannover (now Universität Hannover).
  3. Jensen was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Eugene Wigner and Maria Goeppert Mayer, sharing one half of the Prize with the latter "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure".
  4. In 1963, Jensen shared half of the Nobel Prize in Physics with Maria Goeppert Mayer for their model of nuclear shells; the other half of the Prize was awarded to Eugene Wigner for unrelated work in nuclear and particle physics.

The world when J. Hans D. Jensen was born

J. Hans D. Jensen was born in 1907. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1907

  • Best-selling book"The Lady of the Decoration" – Frances Little

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentChicago Cubs win first of back-to-back World Series titles
  • Top headlinePanic of 1907 — financial crisis leads to Federal Reserve creation
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial helicopter design
  • World population~1.67B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderTheodore Roosevelt
  • U.S. population86.0M

1907 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in J. Hans D. Jensen's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19072026
Population86.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.