Abstract
In this chapter, I deal with the period that has been called “the end of the beginning in the developments of beta decay.”1 As we shall see, the long-lasting controversy between Charles Drummond Ellis and Lise Meitner finally came to an end and left a Gordian knot waiting for the cut of an Alexander.
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References
A. Pais, “Radioactivity’s Two Early Puzzles,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 49 (1977), 925–938, p. 927.
K. Hutchison, J.A. Gray and H.S.W. Massey, “Charles Drummond Ellis,” Biog. Mem. Fel. Roy. Soc. 27 (1981), 198–233, p. 205
C.D. Ellis and W.A. Wooster, “The β-Ray Type of Disintegration,” Proc. Comb. Phil. Soc. 22 (1923–1925), 849–860; L. Meitner, “über die Rolle der γ-Strahlen beim Atomzerfall,” Z. Phys. 26 (1924), 169–177.
Ellis and Wooster, “β-Ray Type” (note 3), p. 857.
Ibid., p. 859.
Ibid., p. 859.
Ibid., p. 858.
E. Rutherford, “Charge Carried by the a and ß Rays of Radium,” Phil. Mag. 10 (1905), 193208; W. Makower, “On the Number and the Absorption by Matter of the 0 Particles Emitted by Radium,” Phil. Mag. 17 (1909), 171–180; H.G.J. Moseley, “The Number of ß Particles Emitted in the Transformation of Radium,” Proc. Roy. Soc. A87 (1912), 230–255.
H.W. Geiger and A.F. Kovarik, “On the Relative Number of Ions Produced by the β Particles From the Various Radioactive Substances,” Phil. Mag. 22 (1911), 604–613.
E. Rutherford, J. Chadwick and C.D. Ellis, Radiations from Radioactive Substances (Cambridge University Press, 1930), pp. 392–393.
K.G. Emeleus, “The Number of α-Particles from Radium E,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 22 (1923–1925), 400–404.
Ibid., p. 400.
Emeleus based his correction on an investigation by Kovarik. See A.F. Kovarik, “Absorption and Reflexion of the β-Particles by Matter,” Phil. Mag. 20 (1910), 849–866; Kovarik and L.W. McKeehan, “Messung der Absorption und Reflexion von α-Teilchen durch direkte Zählung,” Phys. Zeit. 15 (1914), 434–440.
R.W. Gurney, “The Number of Particles in the Beta-Ray Spectra of Radium B and Radium C,” Proc. Roy. Soc. A109 (1925), 540–561; L.F. Curtiss, “A Preliminary Note on a Direct Determination of the Distribution of Intensity in the Natural α-Ray Spectrum of RaB and RaC,” Proc. Comb. Phil. Soc. 22 (1923–1925), 597–600.
Gurney, “Number” (note 14), p. 557.
N. Riehl, “Die Brauchbarkeit des Geigerschen Spitzenzählers für α-Strahlen verschiedener Geschwindigkeiten und die Zahl der β-Strahlen von RaE und RaD,” Z. Phys. 46 (1927), 478505.
Ellis to Meitner, 8 February 1928, MTNR 5/4.
B.F.J. Schonland, “The Passage of Cathode Rays Through Matter,” Proc. Roy. Soc. A108 (1925), 187–210.
Riehl, “Brauchbarkeit” (note 16), p. 501.
Ellis to Rutherford, 11 November 1925, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 E8.
Ellis to Rutherford, 29 November 1925, C.U.L. Add. MS. 7653 E9.
C.D. Ellis and W.A. Wooster, “The Average Energy of Disintegration of Radium E,” Proc. Roy. Soc. A117 (1927), 109–123.
P. Curie and A. Laborde, “Sur la chaleur dégagée spontanément par les sels de radium,” C.R. 136 (1903), 673–675.
E. Rutherford and H.R. Robinson, “Heating Effect of Radium and Its Emanation,” Phil. Mag. 25 (1913), 312–330.
C.D. Ellis and W.A. Wooster, “Note on the Heating Effect of the γ-Rays from RaB and RaC,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 22 (1923–1925), 595–596.
Pais, “Radioactivity’s Puzzles” (note 1), p. 927. 27Meitner to Ellis, 14 February 1928, MTNR 5/4.
Ellis and Wooster, “Average Energy” (note 22), p. 118.
G.H. Aston, “The Amount of Energy Emitted in the γ-Ray Form by Radium E,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 23 (1925–1927), 935–941. See also Ellis and Wooster, “Average Energy” (note 22), pp. 119–120.
Ibid., p. 120.
Ibid., p. 121.
Ibid., p. 121.
Ibid., p. 121.
For a history of the development of this model, see R.H. Stuewer, “Rutherford’s Satellite Model of the Nucleus,” HSPS 16:2 (1986), 321–352.
For a historical account of Gamow’s theory, see R.H. Stuewer, “Gamow’s Theory of Alpha-Decay,” in The Kaleidoscope of Science: The Israel Colloquium Studies in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science, E. Ullmann-Margalit (ed.) (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1986), pp. 147–186.
Ellis and Wooster, “Average Energy” (note 22), p. 122.
Ibid., p. 123.
W. Kuhn, “Absorptionsvermögen von Atomkernen für γ-Strahlen,” Z. Phys. 43 (1927), 5665; idem., “Polarisierbarkeit der Atomkerne und Ursprung der γ-Strahlen,” Z. Phys. 44 (1927), 32–35.
E. Rutherford, “Structure of the Radioactive Atom and the Origin of the α-Rays,” Phil. Mag. 54 (1927), 580–605.
Ellis to Meitner, 28 July 1929, MTNR 5/4.
Concerning Ellis’s visit to Berlin, see the following letters: Ellis to Meitner, 23 February 1927; Meitner to Ellis, 2 March 1927; Ellis to Meitner, 5 March 1927; Ellis to Meitner, undated, but sent from Berlin, MTNR 5/4.
O.R. Frisch, “Lise Meitner,” Biog. Mem. Fel. Roy. Soc. 16 (1970), 405–420, p. 408.
Pauli to Wu, 17 November 1958, MTNR 5/13.
K. Donat and K. Philipp, “Die Ausbeute beim β-Rückstoss von Thorium B,” Z. Phys..45 (1927), 512–521.
Meitner to Pauli, 5 December 1956, MTNR 5/13.
Meitner to Ellis, 14 February 1928, MTNR 5/4. 47/bid.
See C.L. Cowan and F. Reines, “Detection of a Free Neutrino — A Confirmation,” Science 124 (1956), 103–104. See also C.E. Atchley, The Invention and Discovery of the Neutrino: Elusive Reality and the Nature of Scientific Acceptance (Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1991).
Pauli gave the lecture at the Zürcher Naturforschende Gesellschaft on 21 January 1957; see C.S. Wu, “The Neutrino,” in Theoretical Physics in the Twentieth Century: A Memorial Volume to Wolfgang Pauli, M. Fierz and V.F. Weisskopf (eds.) (New York: Interscience, 1960), pp. 249–303, on p. 301.
Pauli to Meitner, 3 November 1956, MTNR 5/13; emphasis in the original.
Meitner to Pauli, 5 December 1956, MTNR 5/13.
C.D. Ellis, “Uber die Deutung der β-Strahlspektren radioaktiver Substanzen,” Z. Phys. 10 (1922), 303–307.
Pauli to Meitner, 13 December 1956, MTNR 5/13.
W Heisenberg and W. Pauli, “Zur Quantendynamik der Wellenfelder,” Z. Phys. 56 (1929), 1–61; idem., “Zur Quantendynamik der Wellenfelder II,” Z. Phys. 59 (1930), 168–190.
Pauli to Klein, 18 February 1929, in W. Pauli, Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel mit Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg u.a., Vol. 1: 1919–1929, A. Hermann, K.v. Meyenn, and V.F. Weisskopf (eds.) (New York: Springer Verlag, 1979), pp. 488–492.
Pauli to Klein, 16 March 1929, ibid., pp. 494–495.
Pauli to Bohr, 25 April 1929, ibid., pp. 495–496.
Pauli and Paul Scherrer to Ehrenfest, 7 May 1929, ibid., p. 498; Pauli to Ehrenfest, 15 May 1929, ibid., p. 500.
L. Meitner and W. Orthmann, “über eine absolute Bestimmung der Energie der primären β-Strahlen von Radium E,” Z. Phys. 60 (1930), 143–155.
W Orthmann, “Ein Differentialkalorimeter zur Absolutbestimmung kleinster Wärmemengen,” Z. Phys. 60 (1930), 137–142.
Meitner to Ellis, 20 July 1929, MTNR 5/4.
Ellis to Meitner, 16 July 1930, MTNR 5/4.
S. Bramson, “Absorptionskoeffizienten der ry-Strahlung von Radium D und Radium E und die Zahl der emittierten Quanten,” Z. Phys. 66 (1930), 721–740. See also L. Meitner, “Energieverteilung der primären 0-Strahlen und die daraus zu folgernde -y-Strahlung,” Phys. Zeit. 30 (1929), 515–516.
See Meitner and Orthmann, “Über eine absolute Bestimmung” (note 59), pp. 153–154.
Meitner, “Energieverteilung” (note 63), p. 516.
Meitner to Ellis, 20 July 1929, MTNR 5/4.
Pauli to Bohr, 17 July 1929, BSC (14,3). Reproduced in Pauli, Briefwechsel (note 55), pp. 512–514. The translation is from BCW, Vol. 6, Foundations of Quantum Physics I (19261932), J. Kaltkar (ed.) (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1985), p. 447.
Meitner, “Energieverteilung” (note 63), p. 516; Bramson, “Absorptionskoeffizienten” (note63).
This was the way in which Meitner referred to Ellis’s hypothesis in her Zurich lecture. See Meitner, “Energieverteilung” (note 63), p. 515.
L.B. Loeb, “Note Concerning the Emission of Beta-Rays in Radioactive Change,” Phys. Rev., 34 (1929), 1212–1216, p. 1213.
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Jensen, C., Aaserud, F., Kragh, H., Rüdinger, E., Stuewer, R.H. (2000). The End of the Beginning: The Controversy Enters the Decisive Phase, 1925–1929. 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_5
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