As a German graduate student, Rudolf L. Mössbauer discovered an unusual effect concerning how gamma rays are absorbed in certain materials that would have far reaching applications in solid-state physics, chemistry, and biology. Born in Munich, Germany, Mössbauer was the son of Ludwig and Erma Mössbauer. After graduating from secondary school in 1948, he worked for a year in industrial laboratories. Mössbauer studied physics at the Technical University in Munich and completed his thesis at the university's laboratory for applied physics in 1954.

While working on his doctorate from 1955 to 1957 at the Institute for Physics of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Mössbauer conducted a series of experiments on emissions of gamma rays from nuclear transitions. These investigations led him to be the first to observe recoilless nuclear resonance absorption, which became known as the Mö...