Walter Maurice Elsasser (born March 20, 1904, in Mannheim, Germany; died October 14, 1991, in Baltimore) was a physicist and is considered "father" of the geodynamo theory. Long before he became known for his geodynamo theory, while in Göttingen in the 1920s, he has suggested the experiment to test the wave aspect of electrons. This suggestion of Elsasser was later communicated by his senior colleague from Göttingen (Nobel Prize recipient Max Born) to physicists in England. This explained the results of the Davisson-Germer and Thompson experiments later awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1935, while working in Paris, Elsasser calculated the binding energies of protons and neutrons in heavy radioactive nuclei. Wigner, Jensen and Meyer received the Nobel in 1963 for work developing out of Elsasser's initial formulation. Elsasser therefore came quite close to a Nobel prize on two occasions. March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mannheim is a city in Germany. ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Monument City, Charm City, Mob Town, B-more Motto: Get In On It (formerly The City That Reads and The Greatest City in America; BELIEVE is not the official motto but rather a specific campaign) Location Location of Baltimore in Maryland Coordinates , Government Country State County United... Physicists working in a government lab A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. ... The Dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a celestial body such as the Earth generates a magnetic field. ... The Dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a celestial body such as the Earth generates a magnetic field. ... Göttingen ( ) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... The Electron is a fundamental subatomic particle that carries an electric charge. ... Nobel Prize medal. ... Max Born (December 11, 1882 in Breslau – January 5, 1970 in Göttingen) was a mathematician and physicist. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... In 1927 at Bell Labs, Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer fired slow moving electrons at a crystalline Nickel target. ... Benjamin Thompson. ... Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ...

Over 1946-1947, Elsasser published papers outlining the theory that the earth's electromagnetic field is powered by eddy currents at the planet's liquid core. This had been developed from around 1941 onwards, partly in his spare time during his scientific war service with the US Signal Corps. Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, the World or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ... This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers, and should be edited to rectify this. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The planetary core consists of the innermost layers of a planet. ...

In his later years, Elsasser became interested in what is now called systems biology and contributed a series of articles to Journal of Theoretical Biology. The final version of his thoughts on this subject can be found in his book Reflections on a Theory of Organisms, published in 1987 and again posthumously with a new forward by Harry Rubin in 1998. Systems biology is the study of the interactions between the components of a biological system, and how these interactions give rise to the function and behaviour of that system (for example, the enzymes and metabolites in a metabolic pathway)[1][2]. Typically, a cellular network is modelled mathematically. ... The Journal of Theoretical Biology is a scientific journal dealing with all mathematical and computational aspects of biology. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Elsasser's biological work is still quite controversial, and in fact sits in an odd relationship to the field of systems biology he helped to found. Central to Elsasser's biological thought is the notion of the astronomical complexity of the cell. Elsasser deduced from this that any investigation of a causative chain of events in a biological system will reach a "terminal point", where the number of possible inputs into the chain will overwhelm the capacity of the scientist to make predictions, even with the most powerful computers. This might seem like a counsel of despair, but in fact Elsasser was not calling for the abandonment of biology as a worthwhile research arena, but rather for a different kind of biology where molecular causal chains are no longer the main focus of study. Correlation between supra-molecular events would become the main data source. Systems biology is the study of the interactions between the components of a biological system, and how these interactions give rise to the function and behaviour of that system (for example, the enzymes and metabolites in a metabolic pathway)[1][2]. Typically, a cellular network is modelled mathematically. ...

Works

• The Physical Foundation of Biology. An Analytical Study, (1958), Pergamon Press, London
• Atom and Organism. A New Approach to Theoretcial Biology, (1966) Princeton University Press
• The Chief Abstractions of Biology, (1975), North Holland, Amsterdam.
• Memoirs of a Physicist in the Atomic Age, (1978)
• The role of individuality in biological theory, (1970) in Towards a Theoretical Biology vol.3 Edinburgh University Press
• Reflections on a Theory of Organisms. Holism in Biology, (1998) Johns Hopkins University Press (JHU).

The Olin Hall at the Johns Hopkins University has a Walter Elsasser Memorial in the lobby. 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Johns Hopkins University Press is a publishing house and division of Johns Hopkins University that engages in academic publishing. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ...

Web pages

• Extensive biography at The National Academies Press