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Secondary Effects and Order of Emission: Two Main Questions in the Controversy, 1923–1925

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Controversy and Consensus: Nuclear Beta Decay 1911–1934

Part of the book series: Science Networks · Historical Studies ((SNHS,volume 24))

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Abstract

I now turn to the development of the beta-spectrum controversy in the years 1923 to 1925. In the first part of this period, the origin of the continuous beta spectrum was still of paramount interest, and the efforts of the Berlin and Cambridge physicists concentrated on seeking corroboration of their respective views on this problem. Lise Meitner continued to investigate beta spectra and was also concerned with tracing secondary causes for the continuity in energy - a problem with which the young Norwegian physicist Svein Rosseland was also occupied. Charles Drummond Ellis stuck to the radium-disintegration products. Together with Herbert Skinner, he carried out a thorough reinvestigation of the beta spectrum of RaB + C.

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References

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  80. See, for example, a letter of 17 November 1958 from Pauli to Wu, MTNR 5/13. Wolfgang Pauli wrote as follows: “She [Meitner] frankly admitted that she was on the wrong track with her ideas on the primary Beta rays but emphasized, quite correctly, that in other questions she had the better view than Ellis.”

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Niels Bohr Archive, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Finn Aaserud

  2. Dept. of History of Science, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Helge Kragh

  3. Hyldebakken 9, DK-3070, Snekkersten, Denmark

    Erik Rüdinger

  4. Tate Laboratory of Physics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Roger H. Stuewer

Authors
  1. Carsten Jensen
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  2. Finn Aaserud
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  3. Helge Kragh
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  4. Erik Rüdinger
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  5. Roger H. Stuewer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Niels Bohr Archive, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Finn Aaserud

  2. Dept. of History of Science, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Helge Kragh

  3. Hyldebakken 9, DK-3070, Snekkersten, Denmark

    Erik Rüdinger

  4. Tate Laboratory of Physics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Roger H. Stuewer

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Jensen, C., Aaserud, F., Kragh, H., Rüdinger, E., Stuewer, R.H. (2000). Secondary Effects and Order of Emission: Two Main Questions in the Controversy, 1923–1925. 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_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8444-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel

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