Abstract
In retrospect, Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity in 1896 was one of the landmarks in the history of physics, and it may be said to constitute the birth of nuclear physics, even if the existence of an atomic nucleus was far from being a subject of discussion then.
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References
For a more thorough discussion, see M. Malley, From Hyperphosphorescence to Nuclear Decay: A History of the Early Years of Radioactivity, 1896–1914(Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1976); idem, “The Discovery of the Beta Particle,” Am. J. Phys. 39(1971), 1454–1461; L. Badash, “Radioactivity Before the Curies,” Am. J. Phys. 33(1965), 128–135; idem, “An Elster and Geitel Failure: Magnetic Deflection of Beta Rays,” Centaurus 11(1966), 236–240; S. Meyer, “Zur Geschichte der Entdeckung der Natur der Becquerelstrahlen,” Natur- wiss. 36(1949), 129–132; A. Pais, Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World( New York: Oxford University Press, 1986 ), pp.142–162.
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For historical accounts, see R.H. Stuewer, “William H. Bragg’s Corpuscular Theory of X Rays and ‘y Rays,” BJHS 5 (1971), 258–281; idem., The Compton Effect: Turning Point in Physics (New York: Science History Publications, 1975); B.R. Wheaton, The Tiger and the Shark: Empirical Roots of Wave—Particle Dualism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
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E. Rutherford, Radio-Activity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1904), p. 98; repeated in idem. Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913), p. 196.
Rutherford, Radio-Activity (note 16), p. 98; idem., Radioactive Substancees (note 16), p. 196. 18F. Paschen, “über die Kathodenstrahlen des Radiums,” Ann. d. Phys. 14 (1904), 389–405. 19K.W.F. Kohlrausch, “Radioaktivität,” in Handbuch der Experimentalphysik, Band 15 (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., 1928), p. 199.
F. Paschen, “über die Kathodenstrahlen des Radiums,” Ann. d. Phys. 14 (1904), 389–405.
K.W.F. Kohlrausch, “Radioaktivität,” in Handbuch der Experimentalphysik, Band 15 (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., 1928), p. 199.
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Rutherford, Radio-Activity (note 16), p. 113.
Schmidt, “über die Absorption” (note 21), p. 765.
Ibid p. 766.
Ibid., p. 766.
J.J. Thomson, Conduction of Electricity Through Gases (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1906), pp. 378--379. For further discussions of absorption and scattering of beta particles, see J. Thorsen, Udviklingen of Niels Bohrs stodteori i perioden 1912–1927 (“The Development of Niels Bohr’s Theory of Collisions, 1912–1927,”), Ph.D. thesis, University of Aarhus, 1978; J.L. Heilbron, “The Scattering of Alpha and Beta Particles and Rutherford’s Atom,” AHES. (1967/68), 247–307.
See O. Hahn, A Scientific Autobiography (New York: Scribner’s, 1966), p. 53.
H.W. Schmidt, “Einige Versuche mit Beta-Strahlen von Radium E,” Phys. Zeit. 8 (1907), 361–373.
Ibid., p. 362.
Ibid., pp. 370–371.
Ibid., p. 372.
See Hahn, Autobiography (note 28), pp. 50–58; L. Meitner, “Looking Back,” Bull. Atom. Sci. (Nov. 1964), 2–7; S. Watkins, “Lise Meitner and the Beta-Ray Energy Controversy: An Historical Perspective,” Am. J. Phys. 51 (1983), 551–553; R.L. Sime, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Uber die Absorption der Beta-Strahlen einiger Radioelemente,” Phys. Zeit. 9 (1908), 321–333.
Ibid., p. 328.
Ibid., p. 331.
Ibid., p. 331.
Ibid., p. 332.
O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Über die Beta-Strahlen des Aktiniums,” Phys. Zeit. 9(1908), 697–702,p.697.
Ibid., p. 699.
Ibid., p. 702.
O. Hahn, “Über eine neue Erscheinung bei der Aktivierung mit Aktinium,” Phys. Zeit. 10 (1909), 81–89.
O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Nachweis der komplexen Natur von Radium C,” Phys. Zeit. 10 (1909), 697–703, p. 697.
Ibid.
The recoil method utilized the fact that, when an atom ejects an alpha or beta particle, conservation of momentum requires that the daughter atom recoil with an equal and opposite momentum. By collecting the recoil atoms on a wire or plate it proved possible to separate various decay products.
O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Uber eine typische Beta-Strahlung des eigentlichen Radiums,” Phys. Zeit. 10 (1909), 741–745, p. 745.
W. Wilson, “On the Absorption of Homogeneous Beta Rays by Matter, and on the Variation of the Absorption of the Rays with Velocity,” Proc. Roy. Soc. A82 (1909), 612–628.
Ibid., p. 612.
See F. Soddy, Annual Progress Report to the Chemical Society for 1908/1909, Vol 6, p. 240; reproduced in Radioactivity and Atomic Theory, T.J. Trenn (ed.) (London: Taylor Si Francis Ltd., 1975), p. 192.
Wilson, “Absorption” (note 47), p. 624.
Ibid., p. 627.
Ibid., p. 627.
Soddy, Annual Progress Report (note 49), p. 192.
Rutherford to Hahn, 24 October 1909, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 H40.
O. Haim and L. Meitner, “über das Absorptionsgesetz der ß-Strahlen,” Phys. Zeit. 10 (1909), 948–950, p. 948.
Ibid., p. 949.
Ibid., p. 949.
Ibid., p. 950.
Ibid., p. 950.
Ibid., p. 950.
W. Wilson, “Über das Absorptionsgesetz der Beta-Strahlung,” Phys. Zeit. 11 (1910), 101–104.
Ibid., p. 102.
Ibid., p. 104.
Pais, Inward Bound (note 1), p. 153.
Meitner, “Looking Back” (note 33), p. 6.
Rutherford to Hahn, 24 October 1909, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 H40.
v. Baeyer and O. Hahn, “Magnetische Linienspektren von Beta-Strahlen,” Phys. Zeit. 11 (1910), 488–493; O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Eine neue Beta-Strahlung beim Thorium X; Analogien in der Uran-und Thoriumreihe,” Phys. Zeit. 11 (1910), 493–497.
Hahn to Rutherford, 13 May 1910, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 H41.
Ibid.
Baeyer and Hahn, “Magnetische Linienspektren” (note 67), pp. 492–493. 71 Rutherford to Hahn, 2 August 1910, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 H44.
Rutherford to Hahn, 2 August 1910, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 H44.
Hahn to Rutherford, 7 August 1910, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 H45. 73Hahn to Rutherford, 11 January 1911, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 HSO.
Hahn to Rutherford, 11 January 1911, C.U.L. Add. MS.7653 H50.
O. v. Baeyer, O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Uber die Beta-Strahlen des aktiven Niederschlags des Thoriums,” Phys. Zeit. 12 (1911), 273–279.
O. v. Baeyer, O. Hahn and L. Meitner, “Magnetische Spektren der Beta-Strahlen des Radiums,” Phys. Zeit. 12 (1911), 1099–1101.
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Jensen, C., Aaserud, F., Kragh, H., Rüdinger, E., Stuewer, R.H. (2000). Prelude: Beta-Spectrum Research in the Pre-Nuclear Years, 1900–1911. In: Aaserud, F., Kragh, H., Rüdinger, E., Stuewer, R.H. (eds) Controversy and Consensus: Nuclear Beta Decay 1911–1934. Science Networks · Historical Studies, vol 24. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8444-0_1
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