J is for JIMENEZ!

Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958), for whom Jiménez Hall was named in 1981, was a professor of modern languages at the University of Maryland from 1948 to 1951. He capped his distinguished career as a poet, professor, and novelist by winning the Nobel Prize for Literature five years later, only two years before his death in 1958. Graciela Palau de Nemes, a faculty member at the University of Maryland since 1949 and colleague and friend of Jiménez, prepared his nomination for the Nobel. The selection committee in its citation noted the his “lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity.”

Jiménez is one of six UMD faculty members who have won the Nobel Prize. The others are:

• Herbert A. Hauptman (Ph.D., 1955), co-recipient in chemistry in 1985
• Raymond Davis, Jr., (B.A. 1937, M.S. 1939), co-recipient in physics in 2002
• William Phillips, 1997 recipient for his work in atomic physics. Phillips is also the first Nobel Laureate to be appointed to a full-faculty position in the history of the University of Maryland.
• Thomas Schelling, emeritus distinguished university professor in the Department of Economics and the School of Public Policy, recipient in economics in 2005 for his research in game theory.
• John C. Mather, adjunct professor, co-recipient in physics in 2006 for his measurements of cosmic background radiation immediately after the birth of the universe

This is the 10th post in our series on Terrapin Tales called ABC’s of UMD! Posts will come out twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, throughout the semester. If you want to learn more about campus history, check back weekly to see what we’ve picked to highlight, and you can also visit our encyclopedia University of Maryland A to Z: MAC to Millennium for more UMD facts.

Do you have other ABC’s about campus? Let us know in the comments below!

Take a quick guess at Letter K and click here!