Son of (Entropy)2

Son of Entropy Squared by Peter C. Mayer Personal Memories of a Son of a Chemist, Joseph E. Mayer, and a Nobel Prize Winning Physicist, Maria Goeppert Mayer

Synopsis

The book’s forward, “Who Are Entropy and Entropy,” commences by stating that the book is a collection of vignettes written mostly for fun. The forward continues with a brief description of my parents, Joseph E. Mayer and Maria Goeppert Mayer. It summarizes their character and then their careers, which summary contains an explanation of the title, Entropy Squared. The forward ends with remarks about the accuracy of the vignettes. Some of the vignettes include a representation of the impact on me and some have historical significance.

The first two sections concern Göttingen, Germany, from where "that American," as a fellow student of my mother put it, acquired his wife. She was one of the few women students and the only real feminine student at the University of Göttingen. The first set of Göttingen vignettes are from the time of meeting and from visits until World War II. The second are stories from after the War.

My mother’s career at Sarah Lawrence College separates sections of my parents supporting the World War II war effort, dad at the Ballistics Research Laboratory of Aberdeen Proving Grounds and my mother with the Manhattan, nuclear bomb, Project. The section covering Sarah Lawrence College includes research, not just my memories, because biographers have said little about Maria Goeppert Mayer’s time at Sarah Lawrence.

There are sections with stories concerning Joe and concerning Maria followed by a section on Maria receiving the Nobel Prize. The book concludes with a memorial to my father.