Download Unravelling the mystery of the atomic nucleus : a sixty year

Bernard Fernandez
Unravelling the
Mystery of the
Atomic Nucleus
A
Sixty
Year
Journey
1896— 1956
English
^
version by
Springer
Georges Ripka
Contents
1
Radioactivity: The First Puzzles
The "Uranic Rays" of Henri Becquerel
The
Is It
1
:
2
Discovery
Really Phosphorescence?
4
5
What Is the Nature of the Radiation?
A Limited
Why
Was
Impact
on
6
Scientists and the Public
7
1896?
Radioactivity
Discovered
by
7
Chance?
9
Polonium and Radium
9
Marya Sktodowska
10
Pierre Curie
Polonium and Radium: Pierre and Marie Curie Invent Radiochemistry..
14
Enigmas
17
Emanation from Thorium
17
Ernest Rutherford
Rutherford Studies
/}-Rays
11
Radioactivity:
a-and
18
/3-Rays
19
Are Electrons
Rutherford in Montreal: The Radiation of Thorium,
the
Exponential
"Induced" and "Excited"
Elster and Geitel: The
A Third
19
Decrease
20
Radioactivity
Radioactivity
24
Type of Ray: y-Rays
The Emanation of Thorium Is
a
Gas
Belonging
to the
Argon Family
Enigma, a Deeply Astonishing Subject"
Puzzle Is Disentangled
"An
a-Rays Revisited
Radioactivity Is an Atomic Decay
The
Energy of Radioactivity
Conjecture
of Rutherford
24
26
27
29
30
The Puzzle Is Unravelled: Radioactive Families
Where Does the
....
25
A Proliferation of "X" Radiations
The
22
of the Air and of the Earth
30
Come from?
32
xi
xii
Contents
Experimental
Radioactivity
Evidence of Transmutation
35
is Understood. Radioactive Families
35
Consecrations and Mourning: The End of an Era
1903: Henri
37
Shares the Nobel Prize
Becquerel
with Pierre and Marie Curie
37
The Death of Pierre Curie
39
1908: Rutherford is Awarded the Nobel Prize
40
The Death of Henri
40
Becquerel
References
41
A Nucleus at the Heart of the Atom
47
Prehistory of the Atom
Eighteenth Century:
48
Beginning
47
The Abbot Nollet
of the Nineteenth
Century:
Dalton, William
John
Prout, Gay-Lussac, Avogadro, and Ampere
Do Atoms
Really
50
1865: Loschmidt Estimates
Spectral
49
Exist?
the Size of Air
Lines: A First Indication of
Jean Perrin Advocates the
Reality
an
Molecules
51
Internal Structure of Atoms
of Atoms
52
1897: The Electrons Are in the Atom
55
Electric
Discharges in Gases, Cathode Rays
"Dynamids": The Atoms of Philipp Lenard
Numeric
Attempts
to Describe
and the Electron
Balmer and
Rydberg
a
57
of Jean Perrin: The Atom Is Like
Small Scale Solar
System
57
The "Saturn" Model of Hantaro Nagaoka
The
"Plum-Pudding"
58
Atom of J. J. Thomson
59
Charles Barkla Measures the Number of Electrons in
The
Scattering of a Particles
Makes It Possible to "See"
a
an Atom
60
Nucleus
in the Atom
63
An Observation of Marie Curie
63
William
The
56
Consisting Entirely
of Electrons
Speculation
55
55
Spectral Rays:
J. J. Thomson's First Model: An Atom
A
52
Henry Bragg: The Slowing
"Scattering" of a-Particles
Down of a-Particles in Matter
63
65
The Nature of the a-Particle: An Unresolved
Question
66
The First Geiger Counter
67
The Nature of the a-Particle
69
Another Way
70
Back to the
The
to
Count a-Particles: Scintillations
Scattering
of a-Particles
Experiments of Geiger and
71
Marsden
Are the Large Deviations Caused by
72
Multiple
Small Deviations?
Rutherford Invents the Nucleus
A Last
Ingredient: Moseley
Measures the
in the Atom
Barkla Creates
73
74
Charge
of the Nucleus
77
X-ray Spectroscopy
77
xiii
Contents
The Diffraction of
Max
X-rays:
and William Lawrence
Henry Moseley
Measures the
Laue, William Henry
von
78
Bragg
Charge
of Nuclei
79
81
A Paradox
83
References
Quantum Mechanics: The Unavoidable
Branching Off
An Improbable Beginning
Path
89
89
91
91
The Peak of Classical Mechanics
92
A Persistent Problem
1900: Max Planck Invents the
Quantum
94
of the Action
A Quantum of Action
96
Einstein and
Light Quanta
96
The
Heat of Solids
99
Specific
Solvay Council and the Theory of Quanta
Bohr: The Quanta Are in the Atom
Bohr Introduces Quanta in the Theory of the Atom
103
99
"On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules"
105
The First
Niels
Two Other
Papers
in Bohr's 1913
103
108
Trilogy
109
1913-1923: Victories and Setbacks
Skepticism, Enthusiasm and Adhesion
Confirmation: The
Experiment
110
Lines: The Zeeman and Stark Effects
A Proliferation of
Arnold
109
of Franck and Hertz
Optical
Sommerfeld: Elliptic Orbits
and New
Quantum
Numbers
110
Ill
Relativistic Corrections and the Fine Structure Constant
112
A Hoax!
113
A Further Contribution of Einstein: The Interaction
113
Between Radiation and Matter
The Stark Effect: A
of the
Theory
of
114
Quanta
The
"Correspondence Principle"
Kossel, Bohr and the Mendeleev Table
115
The Rare Earths
118
1918,
1925:
Victory
Spin
1921 and 1922: Three Nobel Prizes Attributed to
and the Pauli
Wolfgang
Principle
118
121
122
The Stern and Gerlach
A
Quanta
121
Pauli
Max Born
The
116
Compton
Experiment
Effect
Strange Explanation of the Zeeman Effect
Principle
123
124
125
Pauli's Exclusion
126
The
127
"Spin"
of the Electron
Quantum Mechanics
Louis de
Broglie
Heisenberg
and Matrix Mechanics
131
131
133
xiv
Conlents
New
Physics
135
Pauli
Applies the New Mechanics
The Schrodinger Equation
and
Heisenberg
to the
Spectrum
136
Hydrogen
136
of the Same Coin
Schrodinger, Two Sides
The Probabilistic
of
139
of Max Born
Interpretation
and the End of Determinism
139
The Pauli Matrices
141
Indistinguishable
Particles: Bose-Einstein "Statistics"
141
Enrico Fermi: A New "Statistics"
143
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
144
"Bosons" and "Fermions"
The
Uncertainty Relations
147
of
Heisenberg
148
Nobel Acknowledgments
The Fifth
The German
A Brief
152
Council: An Assessment of the New Mechanics
Solvay
Language,
Bibliography
the
Language
of
Quantum
153
Mechanics
154
155
References
157
A Timid
163
Infancy
The Atomic Nucleus in 1913
163
The
165
Discovery
The
of
Isotopes
Chemistry of
Frederick
and the Measurement of Masses of Nuclei
Radioactive Products
165
Soddy
166
Isotopes
166
The Revival of
The First
Positively Charged
"Canal
Rays"
168
Physical Measurements of Atomic Masses
168
Francis Aston and the First Mass
The "Whole Number Law" and
The
Exceptional
Mass of the
Spectrometer
the Old Hypothesis of William
Hydrogen
169
Prout...
Atom
173
A Nobel Prize for the "Whole-Number Rule"
The Atomic Masses Known in 1932: The
An Enquiry Full of Surprises: fi
The
Velocity of the fi
Binding Energy
Radioactivity
Electrons
171
175
of Nuclei
....
176
179
180
Otto Hahn
180
Lise Meitner
182
Hahn, Meitner and fi Radioactivity
The First "/? Spectrometer"
184
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institut
186
Clouds Are
Gathering
186
James Chadwick: A Continuous
Is It
185
fi Spectrum!
187
Continuous Spectrum?
In Berlin: The War
189
Lise Meitner Returns
190
Really
a
The Decisive
A Scandal:
fi Radioactivity
Experiment of Charles Ellis
to
Energy May
Not Be Conserved!
190
191
193
xv
Contents
Geigerand Bothe: A "Coincidence" Experiment
The Idea of Wolfgang Pauli
But Why Are So Many Spectral Lines Observed?
The Key to the Mystery
Cavendish Professor of
Physics
Between Vienna and
Controversy
203
Cambridge
205
How Do the Transmutations Occur?
According
The Nucleus in 1920
207
to Rutherford
208
The Size of the Nucleus
The Constitution of the Nucleus and of
Rutherford the
Visionary:
208
Isotopes
209
The Neutron
210
Chadwick Hunts for New Forces
The
Rapid Expansion
of
213
Means
Experimental
Scintillation Methods
213
The Point Counter
214
The
Geiger-Muller
215
Counter
Development
Digression:
The Electronically Amplified Ionization Chamber
216
Coincidence Measurements
219
The Birth and
A
The Measurement of the
A
Unique
of Wireless Radio
Energy
217
220
of y Radiation
222
Detector: Wilson's Cloud Chamber
227
The Atomic Nucleus in 1930
Some Certainties and One
At the
Beginning
228
Enigma
of 1932, the
231
Enigma Remains
233
References
241
1930-1940: A Dazzling Development
The Nucleus: A New
Quantum
241
Boundary
Mechanics
Acting
242
in the Nucleus
Salomon Rosenblum and the Fine Structure of a Radioactivity
1931: The First International
The
The
202
202
New Nuclear Reactions
A
196
200
The First Nuclear Reaction
Rutherford,
194
199
The First Nuclear Reactions
Sir Ernest
193
Discovery
Discovery
of
an
of Nuclear
Congress
Exceptional Isotope:
Physics
Deuterium
of the Neutron
244
246
249
253
Frederic and Irene Joliot-Curie
254
Protons Are Ejected
256
The Neutron Is Revealed
257
Lighter or Heavier than the Proton?
Nuclear Theory After the Discovery of the Neutron
Is the Neutron
Werner
Ettore
Heisenberg
Majorana
Eugene P. Wigner
258
263
263
267
270
xvi
Contents
Do the Protons and Neutrons form Shells
as
Electrons
Do in the Atom?
271
A New Particle: The Positron
Cosmic
279
Rays
279
Blackett and Occhialini
280
Carl Anderson Discovers a Positive Electron
282
The Positive Electron of Anderson and that of Dirac
283
Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie
286
The Birth of Particle Accelerators
Direct Acceleration: A
289
High-Voltage
Race
290
Acceleration in
295
Steps
"Charge Independence" of the Nuclear Force
The Discovery of Artificial Radioactivity
The Joliot-Curies After the
"A New Kind of
Solvay
Radioactivity"
303
305
Council
307
308
The Chemical Proof
It
Spreads like
309
310
Importance of the Discovery
311
The
Wildfire
New
Perspectives for Radioactive Indicators
312
The Death of Marie Curie
313
The 1935 Nobel Prizes Are Attributed to Chadwick
and
the Joliot-Curies
to
314
The School of Rome
The
Theory
Neutron
of
315
jS Decay
Physics
316
in Rome
318
"Slow" Neutrons
321
A New Field in Nuclear Physics
323
Resonances
324
Fermi Is Awarded the Nobel Prize. The End of the Rome Team
326
The Great Exodus of Jewish Scientists Under Nazism
A Proliferation of Theories: Yukawa, Breit and
Wigner,
327
Bohr
Hideki Yukawa
331
331
The First Theories of Nuclear Reactions
The Structure of the Nucleus
According
335
to Bohr in 1937
338
The Death of a Giant: Ernest Rutherford
341
Hans Bethe Sums
343
Up the Situation
in 1936-1937
Hans Albrecht Bethe
343
The Structure of Nuclei
344
Nuclear Reactions
348
The Fission of Uranium
349
A
Fragile Discovery: The
Transuranic Elements
349
Loads of "Transuranic" Elements
352
At the Institut du Radium
354
Lise Meitner Flees Nazi
Germany
Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann Set
358
Again
to Work
359
Contents
xvii
More and More
Disconcerting
Results
360
The Word Is Finally Uttered
363
The News
364
Spreads
to
the United States
Confirmations
365
Niels Bohr: The Theory of Fission, Uranium 235
368
The Number of Emitted Neutrons
370
Leo Szilard
371
Is
372
a
Chain Reaction Possible?
The Last Publications Before the War
375
Francis Perrin and the Critical Mass
377
French Patents
378
References
The
A
381
Upheavals of
the Second World War
395
Chronology
395
The New Face of Physics After the War
Big Science: Physics
on a
Large
401
Scale
402
Team Work
402
The H-Bomb: Political and
The American
Military Implications
403
Supremacy
and
404
After the War
Europe
Japan
Is "Big Science" Really the
405
Result of the War?
409
References
The Time of
New
411
Maturity
Experimental
413
Means
413
New Accelerators Have Ever
New
Detectors,
New
Increasing Energies
Measuring
414
Instruments
419
Data Accumulate
The
425
of Bethe
Papers
425
Real Transuranic Nuclei
425
The Lifetime of the Neutron
Electron
429
Scattering and the Electric Charge Distribution
in Nuclei
The "Shell" Structure of Nuclei
433
A Model of
The
Particles?
Quasi-independent
Symmetries and Supermultiplets
Put Forth
430
Maria
Arguments
by
Spin-Orbit Interaction
of
Wigner
Goeppert-Mayer
The
434
et
Feenberg
434
435
436
Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen
437
A Paradoxical Model
438
Elastic
Scattering
and the
The Nucleus Is Like
"Optical Model"
a Cloudy Crystal
"Optical" Attempts
The Woods-Saxon
The
Computer:
441
Ball
442
442
Potential
443
A Decisive Instrument
444
"Optical"
Contents
xviii
447
Direct Nuclear Reactions
The
Stripping
of
a
448
Deuteron
Direct Reactions and Reactions Which Proceed
the Formation of
a
Compound
Though
452
Nucleus
455
A Collective Behavior
Photonuclear Reactions
455
Giant Resonances
456
Are All Nuclei
457
The
Spherical?
Quadrupole
Moment: An Indicator of Nuclear Deformation
James Rainwater and
Aage
458
Bohr
460
Aage Bohr, the Resolution of a Paradox
463
A Unified Model of the Nucleus
463
Ben Mottelson
464
New Data, New Confirmations
Bohr and Mottelson: The
The Birth of Nuclear
Nuclear
Key
Spectroscopy
to
465
Spectra
467
468
Nobel Awards
469
The Nuclear Force
of the
Discovery
The
it0 Completes the Pion
n
469
Meson
The
470
Trio
471
The Hard Core
473
Nuclear Matter
The
473
Challenge
Keith Brueckner, Jeffrey Goldstone, Hans Bethe, and
And What About Niels Bohr's
an
a
Few Others
474
475
Solid Foundations
The End of
458
Original Objection?
Era
476
476
References
479
Where the Narrative Ends
487
Glossary
491
Bibliography
of cited books
521
Index
The Periodic Law
513
or
Mendeleev table
530