NDLI: The history of the discovery of nuclear fission

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Fergusson, Jack E.
Copyright Year	2011
Abstract	Following with the discovery of the electron by J. J. Thomson at the end of the nineteenth century a steady elucidation of the structure of the atom occurred over the next 40 years culminating in the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938–1939. The significant steps after the electron discovery were: discovery of the nuclear atom by Rutherford (Philos Mag 6th Ser 21:669–688, 1911), the transformation of elements by Rutherford (Philos Mag 37:578–587, 1919), discovery of artificial radioactivity by Joliot-Curie and Joliot-Curie (Comptes Rendus Acad Sci Paris 198:254–256, 1934), and the discovery of the neutron by Chadwick (Nature 129:312, 1932a, Proc R Soc Ser A 136:692–708, 1932b; Proc R Soc Lond Ser A 136:744–748, 1932c). The neutron furnished scientists with a particle able to penetrate atomic nuclei without expenditure of large amounts of energy. From 1934 until 1938–1939 investigations of the reaction between a neutron and uranium were carried out by E. Fermi in Rome, O. Hahn, L. Meitner and F. Strassmann in Berlin and I. Curie and P. Savitch in Paris. Results were interpreted as the formation of transuranic elements. After sorting out complex radio-chemistry and radio-physics O. Hahn and F. Strassmann came to the conclusion, beyond their belief, that the uranium nucleus split into smaller fragments, that is nuclear fission. This was soon followed in 1939 by its theoretical interpretation by L. Mietner and O. Frisch.
Starting Page	145
Ending Page	166
Page Count	22
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13864238
Journal	Foundations of Chemistry
Volume Number	13
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	15728463
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2011-07-12
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Electron Atom Nucleus Artificial radioactivity Neutron Transuranics Nuclear fission Physical Chemistry Philosophy of Science History Chemistry/Food Science
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Chemistry History Biochemistry

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Artificial radioactivity of the White Sea

The Atom in the Chemistry Curriculum: Fundamental Concept, Teaching Model or Epistemological Obstacle?

Atom and aether in nineteenth-century physical science

Mendeleev's Discovery of the Periodic Law: The Origin and the Reception

The Use of One-Electron Quantum Numbers to Describe Polyelectronic Systems

The Emergence of the Philosophy of Chemistry

Artificial radioactivity in human body and the environment

Discovery by serendipity: a new context for an old riddle

Alan Chalmers: The scientist’s atom and the philosopher’s stone: how science succeeded and philosophy failed to gain knowledge of atoms

The history of the discovery of nuclear fission

Similar Documents

Artificial radioactivity of the White Sea

The Atom in the Chemistry Curriculum: Fundamental Concept, Teaching Model or Epistemological Obstacle?

Atom and aether in nineteenth-century physical science

Mendeleev's Discovery of the Periodic Law: The Origin and the Reception

The Use of One-Electron Quantum Numbers to Describe Polyelectronic Systems

The Emergence of the Philosophy of Chemistry

Artificial radioactivity in human body and the environment

Discovery by serendipity: a new context for an old riddle

Alan Chalmers: The scientist’s atom and the philosopher’s stone: how science succeeded and philosophy failed to gain knowledge of atoms

The history of the discovery of nuclear fission