John Hasbrouck Van Vleck

John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist, co-awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Philip W. Anderson and Sir Nevill Mott, for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electronic magnetism in solids.

Van Vleck (left) receives the Lorentz Medal from Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam (1974).

Quotes

• … one can still say that quantum mechanics is the key to understanding magnetism. When one enters the first room with this key there are unexpected rooms beyond, but it is always the master key that unlocks each door.
  • Quantum Mechanics, The Key to Understanding Magnetism, Nobel Lecture (December 8, 1977)