Was Maria Göppert Mayer's shell model widely accepted immediately?
While the concept of nuclear shells was a significant departure, its explanatory power for the magic numbers gradually led to its acceptance. My initial work was published in 1963, the same year as my Nobel Prize, though the ideas had been developing for some time. Like any new fundamental theory, it required careful scrutiny and verification by the physics community, but its success in explaining experimental observations ultimately solidified its place.
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