Abstract
Ernest Rutherford’s recognition that the high-angle scattering of alpha particles from gold films could be explained if the atom possessed a nuclear structure revolutionized our understanding of the microscopic world. In some sense, the electromagnetic force could be understood as the “glue” that held atoms together: the negatively charged electrons swirling about the positively charged nuclei. As the Coulomb force was, macroscopically, an inverse-square force, visions of tiny planetary systems were immediately evoked. Such initial enthusiasm, as we have seen, was rapidly dissipated as developing a mathematical description of the atom proved more arduous than originally envisioned.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In the current context, convenient values for the constants are e 2∕4πε 0 = 1. 43996 MeV⋅ fm and ℏc = 197. 3269788 MeV⋅ fm.
- 2.
Note: here we are following traditional usage, where there is a missing factor of (2π)−3∕2 in the Fourier transform. We shall account for it in the definition of the inverse transform.
- 3.
Hofstadter was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1961 “for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries concerning the structure of the nucleons.” He shared the prize with Rudolph Mössbauer, who was cited “for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name.”
- 4.
American physicist Marshall Rosenbluth published his “High energy elastic scattering of electrons on protons,” in the Physical Review in 1950.
- 5.
Goeppert-Mayer and Jensen shared half of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics “for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure.” They shared the prize with the Hungarian physicist Eugene Wigner, who was cited “for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles.”
- 6.
Arima and Iachello published a series of papers on the “Interacting boson model of collective states” in the Annals of Physics beginning in 1976.
- 7.
Heisenberg’s “Über den Bau der Atomkerne” appeared in the Zeitschrift für Physik and Wigner’s “On the consequences of the symmetry of the nuclear Hamiltonian on the spectroscopy of nuclei” in the Physical Review.
- 8.
Rutherford was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “”for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances.”
- 9.
Russian physicists Pavel Alekseyevich Čerenkov, Il’ja Mikhailovich Frank and Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm were awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery and the interpretation of the Čerenkov effect.”
- 10.
Davis and Japanese physicist Masatoshi Koshiba shared half of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics “for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos.” The Italian-American physicist Riccardo Giacconi was awarded the other half “for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources.”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Mark A. Cunningham
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cunningham, M.A. (2018). On the Nature of the Nucleus. In: Beyond Classical Physics. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63160-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63160-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63159-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63160-8
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)