The Prize Committee for the Wolf Prize in Physics have unanimously agreed that the prize this year should be divided equally between:
George E. Uhlenbeck
Rockefeller University
New York, N.Y., USA
for his discovery, jointly with the late Samuel A .Goudsmit, of the electron spin;
Giuseppe Occhialini
University of Milan
Milan, Italy
for his contributions to the discovery of electron pair production and of the charged pion.
Professor George Uhlenbeck´s discovery, jointly with the late Samuel A. Goudsmit, of the electron spin, not only had major implications in physics and chemistry, but also provided the first example of an internal degree of freedom for an elementary particle. Uhlenbeck is also an outstanding figure in statistical mechanics.
Professor Giuseppe Occhialini has contributed to the discovery of electron pair production, jointly with P.M.S. Blackett and J. Chadwick, and to the discovery of the charged pion, jointly with C.M.G. Lattes, H. Muirhead and C.F. Powell. Giuseppe Occhialini has also contributed to major research techniques including cloud chambers triggered by counters and the use of special photographic emulsions to study cosmic rays.