Abstract
In June 1934 the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi published a paper in Nature entitled “Possible Production of Elements of Atomic Number higher than 92” (Fermi, 1934b). In this paper Fermi reported that by bombarding uranium with neutrons he and his team had produced an element which could be element number 93, that is, a transuranic element.
Two objections followed very quickly. One objection came from von Grosse and Agruss who pointed out that different chemical properties were to be expected from element number 93 than those displayed by the element produced by Fermi (von Grosse and Agruss, 1934a, 1934b). Hence, they suggested to recategorize the element as number 91. The other objection came fromIdaNoddack (1934b), who also questioned Fermi’s assumptions regarding the chemical properties of element 93 and suggested that the uranium nucleus could have split into several larger fragments whichwould be isotopes of known, light elements.
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Andersen, H. (2009). Unexpected Discoveries, Graded Structures, and the Difference Between Acceptance and Neglect. In: Meheus, J., Nickles, T. (eds) Models of Discovery and Creativity. Origins: Studies in the Sources of Scientific Creativity, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3421-2_1
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