Professor Rudolf M L. Mößbauer (1929-2011)

Dear friends and colleagues,

With deep sorrow we learned of passing of our dear friend and colleague, the founder of the method Professor Rudolf L. Mössbauer. In these days we try to overview the legacy of the Great Scientist.

We look back at the times of the astonishing discovery, subsequent boom in research activity, tremendous excitement among researchers, fascinating new discoveries of the sixties, the coining of the name for a new method - "Mössbauer spectroscopy". Then the fast expansion of the application in various areas in the seventies, maturity of the method in the eighties and nineties, new challenges at the dawn of a new century.

Though scientific interests took Professor Mössbauer in a different direction after his discovery he did not loose contact with ever-growing circle of researchers who continued his path. I always wondered why did he accept invitations to big and small meetings devoted to the applications of the Mössbauer spectroscopy, giving invited lectures on the history of his discovery? Knowing from many sources about his profound modesty (stubbornly using the name "nuclear gamma resonance") one can see his message now - the importance of curiosity and tenacious persistence in scientific endeavor, especially for new generations of young scientists.

Another important point becomes very clear �C his deep respect and support of the worldwide collaboration which we call now Mössbauer community. Our duty as scientists who continue his work is to nurture and strengthen this collaboration, to uphold the legacy of Rudolf L. Mössbauer.

More memorial articles, please find from the Mössbauer Newsletter of MERDJ 3407 issue and Rudolf L. Mössbauer (1929-2011) OBITUARY published on Nature .