First printing of James Chadwick’s artikel „The Possible Existence of a Neutron“, which revolutionized nuclear physics by proving the existence of the neutron. It solved the mystery of missing nuclear mass and established a fundamental building block of the universe. By applying the laws of conservation of energy and momentum to the ejected protons, Chadwick deduced that the mysterious radiation could not be massless gamma rays. Instead, it had to be a particle with roughly the mass of a proton but with zero electrical charge. He published his findings in Nature in February 1932, and followed up with a more definitive paper titled „The Existence of a Neutron“ just months later. This discovery earned him the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics. – „The discovery of the neutron completely revolutionized the physics of the atomic nucleus, both experimentally and theoretically. Since they are not electrically repelled they provide an ideal probe to study the nucleus“ (Brandt, The Harvest of a Century). – A very fine copy of the complete half-year volume of this important journal.

Schlagwörter: Atom, Atomphysik, Physics, Physik

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