doctoral_advisor death_date box_width|name fields workplaces birth_date known_for article_title citizenship alma_mater
willis lamb 1981 robert curtis retherford physics columbia university 1912 lamb shift robert retherford
 united states columbia university
robert retherford

robert curtis retherford -lrb- 1912 -- 1981 -rrb- was an american physicist .
he was a graduate student of willis lamb at columbia radiation laboratory and both performed the famous experiment revealing lamb shift in the fine structure of hydrogen , a decisive experimental step toward a new understanding of quantum electrodynamics .
