nuclear physics to fission. ernest rutherford 1911-1912: rutherford proposed nuclear model of atom...
Post on 17-Jan-2016
230 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Nuclear Physics to Fission
Ernest Rutherford
• 1911-1912: Rutherford proposed nuclear model of atom
• 1919: Succeeded J. J. Thomson as director of Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge
• 1920s and 1930s: Made Cavendish a “Mecca” of nuclear physics
James Chadwick and Neutron
• Irene and Frederick Joliot-Curie and others discovered new penetrating rays
• James Chadwick proved in 1932 that the rays were new fundamental particles that Rutherford had speculated on: a neutral particle with mass similar to protons
• Rutherford: Nobel for Chadwick and the Curies would surely win theirs
• Curies: discovery of artificial radioactivity in 1934 and Nobel
• Also in 1932: Discovery of Positron by Carl Anderson
Path to Fission
• Slow neutron effects: Enrico Fermi in 1930s
• Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, and Fritz Strassmann
• Bombardment of uranium with neutrons• Meitner forced to flee Germany in 1938• Christmas 1938: Hahn and Strassmann’s
experimental results and Meitner and Frisch’s theoretical explanation
top related