The Nobel Prize in Physics 1977 Philip W. Anderson, Sir Nevill
F. Mott, John H. van Vleck by Professor Per-Olov Löwdin of the
Royal Academy of Sciences Translation from the Swedish text Your
Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, This
year's Nobel Prize in physics is shared equally between Philip
Anderson, Sir Nevill Mott and John Van Vleck for their
fundamental contributions to the theory of the electronic
structure of magnetic and disordered systems. All matter
consists of positive and negative electricity: partly heavy
positive elementary particles gathered in atomic nuclei, partly
light negative elementary particles - electrons - which move in
wonderful patterns around the nuclei - always attracted to them
but difficult to catch because of their own movement. It is this
electron dance which is essentially responsible for the
electric, magnetic, and chemical properties of matter. The 1937
Nobel Prize winner in medicine, Albert Szent-Györgyi, has often
compared the chemical process in livin