This is the 6th post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Nielsen writing the Heisenberg Uncertainty equation

Jens Rud Nielsen (1894-1979), Research Professor of Physics at the University of Oklahoma, was a student of Niels Bohr in Denmark. He then completed his doctorate at Cal Tech and arrived in Norman in 1924. What is now Nielsen Hall was built in 1946 and named after Nielsen at his retirement in 1965. As Nielsen’s retirement drew near, Homer L. Dodge wrote:

“I regard one of my greatest contributions to the University of Oklahoma to be bringing him [Dr. Nielsen] there in 1924, if I recall the year correctly. Some persons were amused at the specifications I had for the new man. He was to be a proven research man, a promising director of the research of graduate students, an excellent teacher… Dr. Nielsen lived up to all of these expectations and more, for he was learned in many fields besides physics and had forward-looking ideas concerning education in general. In his quiet, but persistent and effective way he exerted a profound influence on the general development of the University.”

Six years later, Nielsen was one of nine Oklahomans inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, on November 16, 1971. At the induction ceremony, Richard G. Fowler delivered the citation for Nielsen, commending Nielsen for “the role his teaching and research have played in the University of Oklahoma’s transition from being a University-in-name to being a University-in-fact.” Fowler pointed out that when Nielsen retired, “he had initiated half of our sixty Oklahoma-bred doctorate physicists in the art of doing research.” Fowler explained, “Nielsen’s men and women learned his lessons well. I only wish I had time to recite the distinguished positions they now hold, about one-third each in teaching, industry and government employment.” (Cf. the previously posted list of Nielsen’s students.)

Fowler also paid tribute to Gertrude Nielsen, a physician active in public service, and noted that Jens and Gertrude shouldered the educational expenses of several students during the Great Depression.

Read Fowler’s citation here; 3 pages (as a pdf or in the online galleries):

Nielsen received letters of congratulations from many friends and colleagues, including Paul Sharp, Tom Steed (who was also elected to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame at the same time), University President George Lynn Cross, and then-Senator Henry Bellmon:

In recognition of this honor, the University hosted a tea reception for Nielsen, and sponsored a physics symposium in Nielsen Hall to which all University faculty as of 1965 were invited. The program lists the speakers at the symposium and their topics:

The recognition given Nielsen on this public occasion reflects the esteem in which he was held by his students. For example, H. H. Claassen left the following comment on a hand-written note preserved in the Nielsen archive:

“To study under and to work with Prof. Nielsen offers one the rare opportunity to learn much more than physics. His life and his attitudes toward life serve as an example for all who have known him. Many men lecture, but few men excell as teachers — Dr. Nielsen is one of the few.”

Another student commended Nielsen via a telegram:

Related post: List of Nielsen’s students.