Sommerfeld: the Eternal Nobel Candidate

Abstract

Notwithstanding his important scientific contributions, Sommerfeld never received the Nobel Prize in Physics, although he was responsible for a series of major achievements that amply justified the award, and also created several records related to the prize that would be very hard to beat: He is the physicist with highest number of doctoral students who were awarded a Nobel prize, namely four (Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Peter Debye and Hans Bethe). He received the most nominations for the Nobel Prize in Physics, specifically 84 between 1917 and 1951 (more than any other physicist, including Otto Stern, who comes second with 82 nominations, but who was eventually awarded the prize). In 1929 he received nine nominations, including those of three Nobel Prize winners in Physics: Max Planck, James Franck and Max von Laue.