The Department of Physics solicits
NOMINATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
for the

Gregor Wentzel Prize

An annual award for the best first-year graduate student Teaching Assistant

The Department of Physics will present an award of $600 and a citation to the most effective first-year graduate student Teaching Assistant. The winner of the Prize will be selected by a committee consisting of both faculty and students, who hereby solicit nominations and letters of support from undergraduate students and from the faculty who have taught the Physical Science and Physics 100- and 200-level courses this academic year. The funds for the Gregor Wentzel Prize come from an endowment established by Donat and Anna Wentzel, the son and widow of Professor Wentzel. The Prize will be presented at the Physics Colloquium of June 2, 2005.

Nominations and Supporting Recommendations should be sent to KPTC 205 no later than May 6, 2005

Announcement & Nomination Form (MS Word)

Nomination Form only (MS Word)
Nomination Form only (PDF)

Graduate Student Teaching Assistants (Class of 2004) eligible for the Gregor Wentzel Prize:

Wentzel Prize Selection Committee:

Stuart Gazes, Stephan Meyer (Chair), David Reid, Andrew Royston (2004 Prize winner), Matthew Szydagis, Wendy Zhang

Gregor Wentzel

Photo of Gregor WentzelGregor Wentzel, the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Physics in the Department of Physics and in the Enrico Fermi Institute of The University of Chicago, is known to the international community of physicists as the "W" of the "WKB Method", and as a pioneering leader in the development of Quantum Field Theory. To the graduate student who studied in our Department during the 21 years Professor Wentzel taught here, he is fondly remembered as a teacher par excellence. His lectures were masterpieces of clarity. He would begin each lecture by taking a few neatly folded papers from his coat pocket, lay them on the table and proceed to the blackboard to deliver a thoroughly organized presentation of the topics of the day in which every step followed neatly and logically from the previous steps. There was never an error, never any hesitation, never a rush at the end of the hour to finish the scheduled topic. Every question was answered directly and to the point. Nothing ruffled Professor Wentzel. After the lecture, he would pick up his papers--which he had not looked at--light up a cigar and return to his office in the Research Institute. It is obvious from the polish of the lectures that he devoted a great deal of time to their preparation. In short, he took his teaching responsibilities very seriously. The result of this dedication is that a generation of students, many of whom are prominent in physics today, are forever indebted to him.

Gregor Wentzel was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1898 and received his Ph.D. from Munich in 1921. He taught at Munich, Leipzig and Zurich. He held visiting professorships at Wisconsin, Purdue, Stanford, Institute of Fundamental Research in India, University of California and CERN. He came to The University of Chicago in 1948 and remained until his retirement in 1969. He and his wife were living in Switzerland at the time of his death in 1978.

Gregor Wentzel Prize Recipients