Origin of The Term
According to Steven A. Moszkowski (a student of Maria Goeppert-Mayer), the term "magic number" was coined by Eugene Wigner: "Wigner, too, believed in the liquid drop model, but he recognized, from the work of Maria Mayer, the very strong evidence for the closed shells. It seemed a little like magic to him, and that is how the words ‘Magic Numbers’ were coined.”
Read more about this topic: Magic Number (physics)
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